Magic Effect
by Maelaeran
Summary: A girl from a world overflowing with magic and brutality in equal measures finds herself transported to one that is dominated by science, but no less tragedy in a galaxy about to be embroiled in an age-old war. A random idea I had in my mind combining Mass Effect and a "Xianxia"-like story I've been working on. Hopefully some of you guys might like it.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – Where the Hell Am I?!**

 _A tall boy for his age, Jamie Cole tackled the shooters to the ground who had begun to fire wildly upon the fleeing students. The only thought in his mind was to ensure the girl of his dreams came to no harm._

 _Pain blossomed in his abdominal area. Blood already pooling around him as Jamie belatedly realized he had been shot. Other students had come over and were subduing the shooters as his breath became fainter and fainter._

 _Black guy always dies first, after all._

 _The second time he had been reborn as Amala Lucrantz in a world that was more magical than his wildest dreams. He had become a she. And she wasn't even fully human anymore._

 _Her new home was a harsh world overflowing with wonders and strange creatures. The people there were able to perform superhuman feats and she was no exception. She had been blessed with talent in this new world and quickly grew stronger than any other her age. Her mind was only just starting to catch up with her previous life's age._

 _Funny. Even though she was so much stronger as Amala than Jamie ever was. She was still going to die two years earlier than he did._

Amala could feel her life draining away by the second as crimson blood continued to pour out of her body from the large slash wound across her chest. Small wonder that she could _feel_ anything though, considering that wherever the hell her teleportation treasure had taken her was someplace insanely cold.

All around her was an ocean of white, reflecting what little light it could that entered in the pit she was currently staining with her blood. One side benefit she supposed is that the pain from the wound wasn't _quite_ so bad as it was before and the cold was doing a good job to stem the blood flow.

Not that she still wasn't going to die.

For whatever reason, she could barely feel any Universal Energy. Amala was doing her best to absorb it in an attempt to relieve some of her wounds, but it was far from enough.

 _Damn it! Damn it! After all that effort? I'm going to die? AGAIN?!_ Unbidden tears flowed from her eyes as they quickly became solidified before travelling halfway down her pale cheeks. Her mind raged at the weakness but her body could barely comply to wipe away the evidence of her distress.

A weak chuckle rocked her body as she thought of this. What did it matter if she cried? Not like anyone was around here to see -

There was a vibration that rumbled the ground beneath her. A tremor that continued to build in intensity accompanied by a sound that was not unlike a car engine. A thrill of hope went through her as she thought of this. Something that wouldn't be found on Lozen but _would_ be found on her former homeworld.

Amala's eyes struggled to open themselves, she was now cursing the fact of her tears even more than before as they mired her vision. There was still a sea of white in front of her, but above her position in the snow pit was a fairly looking solid mass. The rumbling noise continued to increase and if that sound was an engine then that probably meant she was lying in a ditch off of a road.

She had one chance to get the vehicle's intention if she had any hope of surviving. The thought of hostile forces did cross her mind, but she was more focused on getting through the next hour. Still...was it possible that it might be a kinder fate to die in the cold, rather than risk the unknown?

Maybe.

 _Even so...I want to live! I want to go back to that warm place I had finally reached!_

Amala had barely any Ki remaining in her body as she shakily raised her arm, channelling energy down into the tips of her fingers as she pointed towards the open sky. A bright glow enveloped her hand as her vision blurred, as she slowly began to drift into unconsciousness.

 _...I...want...to...LIVE!_

A violet burst of Ki discharged from her hands and sprang outwards into the unknown world as she slipped, almost blissfully into the land of dreams.

* * *

A rumble shook through the MAKO as Commander Julia Shepard navigated the icy slopes of Dorvega while she whistled a jaunty tune.

"Damn it Shepard! Are you trying to get us killed?!" demanded Garrus Vakarian as he clung for dear life on the very limited handholds in the MAKO.

"Keelah...I think I'm going to be sick..." announced a very nauseated-sounding Tali.

"Commander, perhaps you could drive a little more...sane?" suggested Liara who was maintaining her own death grip on her seat.

In the back, in the gunner's seat, Wrex rumbled with equal parts annoyance and fear, "Or at least find us something to shoot that you DON'T immediately run over!"

Julia clucked her tongue in disapproval, "Where's your sense of adventure people? A relatively unknown planet with a geth outpost and a mysterious beacon belonging to the Alliance? Doesn't that just _scream_ fun?"

"Perhaps if you stuck to the road instead of _driving up mountains_ , then we might better appreciate this so-called adventure." snapped Tali.

"I'm starting to understand why Kaidan and Ashley were so happy to let us go along with the Commander." grumbled Garrus.

Julia eventually relented to the squawking of her so-called _elite_ squad, if only out of pity for Tali who did look as if she was going to throw up in her suit. Julia was pretty sure that her suit could take care of such an event, but the mere thought of it happening wasn't something she wished to inflict on the poor girl.

The squad sighed in evident relief (even Wrex, though he later said that he only sighed because he was stretching) as Julia returned to a road that curved along the mountainside. According to the MAKO's sensors, they only had a bit until they hit the first outpost, having already taken out a few geth sentinels along the way.

With no new leads on Saren, the crew had debated on where to go to next. Julia was thinking that with the sudden downtime they had, in the absence of any leads, that she would pursue some of the missions Hackett had sent her in order to foster more teamwork amongst her team.

Particularly Liara, their most recent addition. The quiet scientist (when not severely dehydrated) had proved to be an exceptionally powerful biotic and Julia had wanted to better integrate her with the rest of the team.

Tali and Garrus she brought along both because of their respective Tech expertise and their unique talents. Wrex was an obvious choice simply because of all of the damage he could soak up for her – _team_ , soak up for the team. Considering that she was a biotic herself, the team was balanced out fairly nicely.

Julia gazed almost absently again at the eerie beauty of Dorvega. It was far too cold (a balmy -62 degrees Celsius all year-round!) for anyone to set up shop and far too sparse in minerals to be of any value. The MAKO continued to chug along the road at a decent pace -

"Could you try going slower than FTL?!" demanded Garrus, a trill of fear in his subvocals.

-when a bright flash of light erupted just ahead of them and shot into the sky before erupting like a violet firework.

"Shit!" Julia stomped hard on the brakes of the MAKO as the squad tensed up.

A moment passed, "Nothing on scanners, Shepard!" called out Garrus

"I'm not seeing any traces of signal blocking either, Shepard!" added Tali.

"Wrex?" asked Julia, the vehicle had come to a full stop now.

"Nothing that I can see from here, but whatever that was, it just gave away our position."

Julia chewed her lips for a bit before she eased the MAKO forward towards the spot where the flash had erupted from. Without needing to tell Wrex, the Krogan aimed the MAKO's main gun towards the ditch in the road.

Nothing further emerged from the ditch, but once Tali increased the sensitivity of her scans, she detected a very faint heat signature coming from within.

The snow crunched beneath them as Julia led Garrus and Tali with her as they cautiously approached the ditch. Julia almost dropped her pistol in shock when she saw what lay within.

"Keelah, is that?..."

Julia quickly holstered her weapon and darted forward as she gingerly felt for a pulse on the neck of the small form in the ditch. Her skin was as pale as the snow around her and her dark black hair stuck out in strong contrast to the blood and snow that covered her form. A strange glint of blue from some crystalline material briefly caught her eye when she felt something.

It was faint, but she felt the barest hint of life beneath her fingers. "She's alive!" said Julia incredulously. There was so much frozen blood in the ditch, that she thought for sure that the kid was...

Memories of Mindoir briefly ran through her mind as she opened up a comm channel to the Normandy. "Shepard to Normandy! Do you read me?! We have a heavily injured child here who needs immediate treatment! Get Chakwas ready and get your _ass_ over here ASAP!"

* * *

Amala's first thoughts upon waking up were relief.

 _I'm not dead..._

Her eyes opened as her thoughts turned to curiosity and slight shock as her ears picked up the tell-tale sound of medical equipment. Something she never thought she'd ever hear again. Amala was relieved that whoever had found her had seen fit to patch her up, rather than throw her in some lab for dissection.

She cautiously tested the movements of her limbs underneath the warm blankets that were piled on her. None of them were restricted. She breathed a sigh of relief as the tell-tale signs of a panic attack that had been building up soon faded away.

Amala moved her hand out from underneath her blanket and examined the dark blue bracelet wrapped around her wrist. She had felt her shape bracelet break when she had used it to ward off one of Regis' attacks, but Amala was curious about the extent of the damage.

A large crack ran through the crystalline material of the bracelet, but the overall shape and form was more or less holding together. Still, the damage meant that she had at least a few day's worth of repair to look forward to.

 _Great._

" #$d #$!"

Amala quickly became aware that she not alone in the room as she stared wide-eyed at the clusterfuck before her.

There were three humans in front of her. One had greying hair and had a sort of grandmotherly-feel to her. Another was a brunette whose hair was pulled back tight into a ponytail and practically screamed military. The third was the most eye-catching of the trio, and had bright red hair that stopped just above her shoulders with piercing green eyes.

Despite the two younger ones being incredibly attractive, that wasn't what had held Amala's stare.

No, behind these women, was what Amala could only describe as a blue woman. She certainly looked female, but was clearly not human as evidenced by the odd...tentacles adorning her head.

 _What. The. Fuck._

"#$% $%%#?" The gorgeous red-head said something and Amala's head whipped back towards her, though her eyes still kept flicking back towards the aliens behind the glass. It was eerily similar to English, but that couldn't be possible.

"Uh...hello?" greeted Amala sticking to the Common Tongue out of caution.

She was met with blank stares. The brunette seemed to be focusing on something above Amala's head while the redhead and the older woman shared concerned looks.

"Thank you for saving me." Amala doubted that what she was saying would be understood, so she followed it up by a grateful bow towards the trio, indicating her wounded chest.

A smile touched the older woman's face as she said something in return. Amala smiled back hesitantly, but didn't know what else to say. Out of more of a nervous habit than anything, she brushed back a strand of her shoulder-length black hair.

That was when Amala realized something was missing. Amala's hands flew towards her neck and her fingers only met bare skin. Her panicked motions drew the attention of the trio who had suddenly entered into a conversation with each other. Amala didn't care as she threw off the blankets that were covering her, wincing from the violent movement as her chest sent a flare of pain.

Amala ignored it as she padded the bed, looking for her Crystals.

 _Where is it?! I know I still had it on me when I escaped from the bastard, so where is it?!_

A flash of blue suddenly caught her attention as Amala's head shot up and saw a small gold necklace with six different Crystals hanging off it held in the hands of the redhead.

" $#^$#%yours?" She had a gentle smile on her face and was talking calmly, gesturing with the necklace. Her heart pounded when she heard the last part of the redhead's sentence.

Amala looked up towards her and gingerly reached for her necklace with her tail. The eyes of all three women widened as they saw this and the brunette was saying something to the redhead. The redhead shook her head and put her palm up in what seemed to be a calming gesture. Her eyes fell back towards Amala and still held that gentle light in them as she continued to offer the necklace.

Amala unclenched her fists that she didn't even realize were under tension as her tail took back her necklace.

"Thank you." said Amala quietly.

The redhead stooped a bit so that she was eye-level with her. She pointed towards herself and said: "Julia."

 _Her name?_ Amala pointed towards the redhead and said cautiously, "Julia?"

She smiled and nodded and then pointed towards Amala, a question in her eyes.

Amala patted her chest (wincing a little bit from the action) and said, "Amala."

Julia's smile widened as she extended her hand towards Amala. Were handshakes so universal?

Amala could feel that several other people, both in the treatment room they were in and beyond the tinted glass were staring at them, but she felt drawn towards Julia. Amala extended her own hand and shook it firmly.

 _Where the hell am I?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – First Contact Protocols**

"How's our newest shipmate?"

Julia turned her head up from the mug of coffee she was nursing at the sound of the flanging voice.

"Sleeping. Along with the rest of the crew." Julia arched an eyebrow towards Garrus with an evident question.

"Wanted to see how you were doing. You were in there the entire day after all." Garrus leaned against a counter, his mandibles flicked open briefly as he stared towards their guest.

"Not everyday you come into contact with a new species. Especially one that's so adorable." chuckled Julia, a fond smile on her face. "You should have seen Ashley's face. She was trying _so_ hard to not squeal."

"She looked remarkably human for a supposed alien species." commented Garrus.

"Hell, we all thought she was human. What other races have hair?"

"Apparently there's at least two."

"Apparently."

"What did Dr. Chakwas say?"

"That Amala's body is tougher than even Wrex's." Julia smirked when Garrus' mandibles splayed open in shock. It wasn't often that she got to flabbergast a turian.

"Bullshit." denied Garrus.

"No shit." snapped back Julia just as fast. "Dr. Chakwas tried to take a blood sample and the needle snapped off on the skin. Even her freakin' hair is tough as hell. Dr. Chakwas managed to get some skin flakes though and ran it through a sequencer."

"And?"

"DNA sequencer definitely pegs her as being alien, though she shares quite a few genetic markers with humanity. Based on the rate she seems to be healing though, she seems to have more in common with a krogan than anything. Another interesting thing to note is that while she's levo-based, she also appears to have a dextro immunity."

"Well that's...bizarre."

"Tell me about it." groaned Julia, taking a sip of her coffee.

"How's communication coming along?"

"Not too bad, we'll probably have a translation program complete by tomorrow so we can speed things up a bit."

"And the mission on Dorvega?"

"...will continue the day after tomorrow." Julia sighed, "There's a lot...to consider."

A few hours after Amala was brought aboard, Joker had reported that a geth dropship was seen leaving the atmosphere. Before the _Normandy_ could take more than a few potshots at it, it had jumped to FTL.

Julia didn't regret saving Amala. Even if she knew they would lose the element of surprise, she would've made the same decision.

"What do we do with her?"

"That's definitely one of the big questions. Along with: "Where is she from?", "Where are her parents or family?", "Who's the fucker who attacked her and left her for dead?", "What _is_ she?" and the like."

"Is that why you're still up?" Garrus seemed to know the answer to that question already though.

Julia gave him a wan smile, "As if chasing Saren and dealing with this Prothean beacon wasn't enough, now I've got to deal with some alien child that I don't have the first clue of how to handle."

"Are you going to talk to the Council?"

Julia bit her lower lip: That was one of the other big questions she needed to address. She was pretty clear on First Contact protocols, especially since after they had brought Amala aboard, she had taken the liberty of reading up on it. This was a pretty unusual situation that wasn't covered by those protocols however.

"I don't know." she admitted. Garrus didn't say anything and waited for her to continue, "I want to find out more about her and how she got on Dorvega in the first place."

"...and when you do?"

"...I guess I'll have to make my decision then."

* * *

Amala watched anxiously as one of the aliens fiddled around with some sort of holographic interface on her wrist. Amala didn't really know what she looked like, as she was covered from head-to-toe in a purple suit and was wearing some short of shawl over her helmet. Based on the figure, Amala was pretty certain that it was a woman, albeit one with three fingers and two toes. Karin – the woman who had treated Amala – noticed this and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Occasionally, Julia would look up from the interface at the alien's behest and say something to Amala who could only blankly stare back. Julia would frown and then go back to saying something to the alien.

Yesterday had been sort of a blur for Amala as she recuperated from her wounds and had a fairly lengthy game of "Simon Says" with Julia as she pointed out various objects for Amala and had her say it in her own tongue. Some things she had no idea what the fuck they were and would give a shrug in response.

"Can you understand me now?"

"If only." muttered Amala absentmindedly. Her eyes widened as she just processed what she had said.

"What did you say?" asked Amala with excitement.

"Can you understand me?" asked Julia with a smile, though she obviously had her answer.

"Yes! Yes I can!" Amala's tail bounced to and fro with delight behind her.

"Wonderful! I'm glad we finally got all this "pointing" nonsense out of the way." chuckled Julia.

"Same here." grinned back Amala. There was something about Julia that made Amala almost instantly like her. An aura that deemed her trustworthy.

"Then perhaps we can reintroduce ourselves, young lady." said Karin who was sitting by her side, "My name is Karin Chakwas."

"I'm Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." chirped the alien. She had a bubbly voice that seemed to ooze friendliness.

"I am Liara T'Soni. It is a pleasure to finally be able to properly talk with you." said the blue alien. She had seemed friendly enough yesterday, though she seemed just as nervous as Amala was when they interacted.

"And I'm Julia Shepard, the one who first found you on Dorvega and dug you out." Julia nodded towards Karin, "And Doctor Chakwas here is the one responsible for treating your wounds."

"I'm Amala Lucrantz. Thank you all so much for saving my life." she gave a short bow. "Do you mind if I ask...where exactly am I?"

"You're on board the _SSV Normandy_ which is currently under my command." said Julia.

Not exactly helpful. Maybe a different tack? "And the place you found me?"

"Dorvega." said Tali who typed out something on the holographic screen above her hand as an image of a planet popped out. "A small uninhabited planet in the Armstrong Nebula"

Amala had a sinking feeling in the pit of her gut, "...uninhabited?"

Julia frowned, "As in...no one lives there."

Amala looked back and forth between the women as her sense of concern grew stronger. "Was there anyone else with me?" she asked anxiously.

They shook their heads and Amala sighed in relief, which prompted curious expressions from the women, though they didn't comment on it.

 _At least I finally found a place where that bastard_ _ **couldn't**_ _follow me._

"We found a small bag which I presumed to belong to you along with your necklace." Amala nodded. Doctor Chakwas had already shown her meagre belongings, none of which she thought would prove to be very useful apart from her dagger and the few Elucidan crystals she had in her possession.

Julia continued, "This might seem like it's a rude question but...what are you?"

 _Great. So there's no Beastfolk here either. When I find whoever made that teleportation treasure, I'm going to kick their ass!_

"I'm a Beastfolk." said Amala cautiously. She didn't want to say she was half-human as she figured that might lead to a whole set of questions she didn't want to deal with right now. Julia seemed to sense that Amala was holding something back, but she didn't press further.

"And where are you from?" continued Julia. Amala noted that the previously clear windows of the room she was in were tinted for privacy.

"Lozen." said Amala after a while of silent debate.

"Is that the name of your world?"

"...Yes."

"How did you get to Dorvega?"

"...I think my teleportation treasure screwed up big time."

Julia's brow furrowed in confusion. "Your _what_ treasure?"

Evidently whatever they were using to translate wasn't perfect. Amala wouldn't criticize that fact as it was already plenty amazing.

"It's a...device" Amala said hesitantly and they all nodded to show their understanding, "A device that lets me move from place to place instantly."

"Keelah. Is she talking about a device that can generate #$%$ ?" said Tali in hushed tones.

"Generate what?" repeated Amala blankly.

"Something that acts like...a door which lets you hop from place to place." explained Liara.

"You have something like that?!" perked up Amala instantly. That could be her ticket home.

Tali winced in evident regret, "No...it's something that's...only theoretical."

"Oh..." Amala slumped back onto her pillows in regret.

"I'm guessing you don't have this treasure anymore either?" asked Julia.

Amala clenched her fists, "No."

The four women looked at each other before Doctor Chakwas broke the uneasy silence, "How did you get those wounds Amala?"

Amala patted the bandage that covered her chest and spat out, "Regis Legatte."

"Who was this...Regis?" asked Julia carefully. Amala could hear the rage in her voice, but it was clearly directed towards the bastard who had cut her open.

"Someone I thought was my friend." Amala kept a neutral tone, trying not to let the hurt appear on her face. Something must have shown though as Doctor Chakwas placed a sympathetic hand over her own.

 _Fuck, I don't want to deal with this right now._

A thought suddenly appeared in her mind and she changed the topic hurriedly, "I felt my treasure basically fall apart in my hands, but I'm pretty sure I still had it with me when I got...transported."

A look of recognition appeared on Julia's face, "What did this treasure of yours look like?"

In response, Amala held up her necklace and pointed to the crystals ensconced in little sockets on the chain. "It would've been made out of the same material as these crystals and had the same color."

Julia nodded slowly, "I remember seeing something flash blue in the snow where we found you."

Amala smiled, "If you could take me back to where you found me, I could potentially repair my treasure with those shards."

Julia frowned, "You're injured." Translation: You're not coming with me.

Amala imperiously raised one of her eyebrows before sliding off of the bed. Ignoring the sudden squawk of protest from Dr. Chakwas, she pulled off the bandage that was covering her chest. She had to suppress a grin from the shocked look the women had when they saw only a stretch of unblemished skin with no hint of her previous grievous injury.

"I got better." she said smugly.

"Why would you personally have to go down there?" asked Julia.

"I know the exact dimensions of the treasure, you might miss a piece if I'm not there."

"The place where we found you is going to be extremely dangerous."

"It's not like I'm going alone, though. Besides, I'm a lot tougher than I look."

As someone who was almost a 5th Rebirth Stage practitioner, it was child-play to cross the gap between her and Julia in an instant. The other three flinched at the sudden burst of speed, but it was testament to the nature of Julia that she didn't even twitch.

Amala continued with her impromptu demonstration as she moved through the Med Bay with alarming speed, racing from one end to the next without losing any breath. Even without using Ki, Amala could reach a top speed exceeding Mach 2. Though because she didn't want to generate any sonicbooms, she purposely slowed down her speed.

Amala's tail uncoiled and wrapped around Liara's legs who stiffened until Amala gave her a reassuring smile. She could almost feel their eyes widening as her tail smoothly lifted up Liara into the air and transferred all of Liara's weight onto one outstretched finger. Throughout this entire display, she continued to lock eyes with Julia's. She was the person she needed to convince that she wasn't helpless.

"I'm fast. I'm strong. I'm _tough_." emphasized Amala. "Please...let me go with you. I won't be a burden."

Julia stared at Amala for a good solid minute; unblinking. Amala held that emerald gaze as tension continued to build in the room until it was almost suffocating. Still, Amala refused to look away and continued to stubbornly stare the commander down.

Finally: "You'll stay with the group at all times and you'll do _exactly_ as you're told without fail. If you can do that, you can come along."

Amala grinned in triumph, "No problem."

Julia gave a small smile of her own, "We'll head down to the planet in a few hours, so rest up while you can and get something to eat." Julia nodded towards Tali, "Tali, could you jury-rig up some shield emitters for our new friend? We don't have armour in her size, but I'll be damned if she goes down there without some form of protection."

"No problem, Shepard."

"Dr. Chakwas, I can see that Amala seems to be in pretty good shape, but I'd like you to give her a proper physical anyway."

"Of course, Commander." The older woman hesitated before replying.

Julia's eyes seemed to flash with understanding as she gave a nod towards Dr. Chakwas. "Liara, I still want you to be on the ground team, but perhaps not in quite the capacity you might've wanted."

Liara nodded with an understanding smile, "I'll look after her."

Amala slightly bristled at that statement, but the look in Julia's eyes made her hold her tongue. For her part, Julia seemed to share a small approving smile with her. "We leave at 1400 hours, be ready in the Cargo Bay by then."

"Yes, Commander." chorused the other three women. Even Amala had joined in without even realizing it. Julia nodded and strode out of the Med Bay as Amala's shoulders seemed to lighten.

"Is she always that...intense?" asked Amala to no one in particular.

Dr. Chakwas chuckled as she stroked Amala's head with a gentle hand, "You did very well for standing up to her like that, young lady. Not even many krogan would dare do that."

Liara and Tali laughed as Amala cocked her head in confusion.

 _What the hell is a krogan?_

* * *

"Fuck." sighed Julia as she exited the Med Bay. She was hoping that she would have a solution when she walked out. But after the conversation she had with Amala, it was clear that she was a little overwhelmed with the solution she had.

"Translation program not work Shepard?"

Julia looked up and smiled in greeting towards Garrus, "No, it worked."

"Ouch. That bad, huh?"

"She seems to be making friends with Tali and Liara pretty quickly, so it's not all that bad."

"But?"

Julia sighed again, "But in order to get her back home, I'm going to need to take her back down to the planet." Julia quickly explained the contents of their conversation and the overwhelming display of Amala's abilities.

No one else was in the mess besides Garrus, so Julia felt comfortable divesting the details with the turian. Kaidan wasn't in his usual spot dealing with the one flashing light. Julia suspected that he might be down in the Cargo Bay talking with a certain Gunnery Chief.

 _Huh...it's weird how much I trust Garrus already._

Julia shook her head free of the strange thought as Garrus continued to talk, "I guess I'll believe it for myself when I see it."

Julia laughed, "I guarantee you'll be blown away. It took a lot of willpower to not keep my mouth from dropping open."

"How much are you planning to tell the crew about Amala?" asked Garrus.

She sighed, "I figure it'll be an open secret. I won't openly divulge anything that she herself doesn't want to tell others about and make sure that anything about her stays on this ship."

"I'm guessing you won't be calling the Council anytime soon." said Garrus sardonically.

Julia snorted, "It'd be like throwing a lamb to the slaughter."

"What?"

She chuckled at the confused expression on Garrus' face, "Another of those silly human expressions you're so fond of."

Garrus gave a short laugh, "As if you humans weren't weird enough already."

Julia smiled and then gave another sigh, "If I turn her over to the Council, I have a pretty good feeling that they'll want to dissect her or something like that."

Garrus gave a low growl in response to that which Julia responded to with a smirk, "So, yeah. I'm not going to let _that_ happen. Especially not to such a sweet kid."

A thought suddenly came to her as she gave a critical look towards Garrus, "Speaking of which...she seems like a tough kid, but I don't know how she would react to..."

"A turian?"

"Or a krogan." frowned Julia, "She seemed okay with Tali and Liara, but they don't look too dissimilar to herself."

Garrus gave a sagely nod, "It's very possible that she would react with awe when saw just how handsome I am."

Julia rolled her eyes, "Hope you're as good with kids as you are with bullshit."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – That Bastard!**

Piling into the space tank (or MAKO as they called it) was a decidedly unpleasant experience. Especially since all of Shepard's companions had insisted on going together with Amala and Julia down to the planet.

Limited seating also meant that Amala was forced to compromise and sit on someone's lap. Amala stared balefully down at the blue hands that were wrapped protectively around her waist. She didn't need to look around to know that Liara was smiling.

"Feeling comfortable, there?" asked Garrus with an expression that Amala was sure the turian equivalent of a shit-eating grin. Evidently she was pouting more than she realized and she hastily rearranged her features into something more blank.

He was by far the most alien out of all the crew members and he had seemed hesitant for some reason when he introduced himself. Amala had seen far more intimidating creatures back on Lozen and Garrus wasn't anywhere near their level.

It didn't take long for her to find out that he was a smartass.

"Fine." she said tersely. Though his stupid grin only grew wider.

Amala had thought that after proving just how capable she was to the rest of the crew, they'd wouldn't raise a fuss. She had ran circles around all of them, knocked the biggest of them (his name was Wrex and kinda looked like a dinosaur too) flat on his ass.

Didn't matter. Apparently, appearances were everything; not ability.

 _"_ _Approaching drop point, Commander."_ said the pilot of the crew.

"Roger that, Joker." replied Julia as she eased the MAKO into a roll down the ramp of the _Normandy_.

Amala craned her head as towards the glass to get her glimpse of her first orbital drop. She felt the hands around her waist grow tighter, but the knees she was resting on were also raised up a bit so she could see better.

"Wow." breathed Amala. Even through the thick windows of the MAKO, the sheer beauty of the vast expanse of the winter wonderland displayed before her was not impacted in the slightest. The world of Dorvega was almost pristine and far too pure-looking to have such a rough sounding name. No traces of civilization could be seen and only a few worn paths from other explorers marred the icy beauty of the alien world.

She felt slightly giddy as the MAKO dropped from the _Normandy_ and plunged down into the snowy drifts below with an alarming speed. Right before impact, their perilous descent was halted by Shepard kicking in the thrusters at just the right moment that they only lightly bounced around as they made contact with the surface.

The screen in front of Garrus lit up with a terrain map of the planet. Three different markers were on the screen, with one icon constantly moving that Amala assumed represented themselves.

"It'll take about thirty minutes or so to reach the spot where we found Amala." said Garrus as he pored over the map and the string of numbers that appeared on the side. "Atmospheric readings look better than yesterday, but there's still a chance of us getting caught in a storm, so we'll need to be quick."

"What did you guys come down here to do originally?" asked Amala.

With a rather bored look on her face, Julia kept her eyes focused on the road as she answered, "Well, to put it in simple terms: We had two reasons for coming down here. One was to help out some former employers of mine and the second was to deal with a geth outpost."

Amala frowned in confusion. "Geth?"

"They're machines." said a terse Ashley. There was a very recognizable look of hatred on her face as she said this. Amala was a little awkward around the brunette. She seemed to have a rather intense curiosity about Amala's unique physical features.

"Like the MAKO?" Amala had a deeply unsettling feeling that they were going into SkyNet territory now.

"If the MAKO was also capable of thinking, then yes." answered Kaidan. He had put a comforting hand over Ashley's own. The woman seemed to calm down considerably at the man's touch. Kaidan was easy to get along with and was very kind towards Amala.

"Are they strong?"

"Very strong." answered Tali in an uncharacteristically solemn voice. "They're also extremely numerous and in possession of better weaponry compared to other races."

"Do they have any particular weakness to electricity?" Heads raised curiously towards Amala when she asked this.

"Well...a very high voltage would short out many of their systems and weapons." said Tali slowly. "Why?"

She gave them a feral grin. "If we run into any, I'll show you."

Wrex chuckled from his gunner position, "Don't get too cocky, pyjak. Your job is to stay with the asari out of the way." Pyjak was what Wrex used as a nickname for Amala. He had used it affectionately enough when she had knocked him on his ass, but Amala suspected that it wasn't a very flattering nickname.

She was feeling a little smothered by the over-protectiveness of these aliens, but Amala didn't know how well she would fare against the weapons in this world. For obvious reasons, no one on the _Normandy_ wanted to do a stress test and shoot her to see how well she could take bullets.

Sighing, Amala looked over at the screen and noticed that they seemed to be taking a longer route towards their first destination.

"Wouldn't it be faster to just go over the mountain instead?" pointed out Amala as she looked over the map. It wasn't particularly obvious, but with the mobility of the MAKO seemed to display, it seemed like it would be doable. She looked up when she noticed that the inside of the MAKO had become very quiet and even Julia turned around and faced her.

Amala felt her face reddening, "Sorry, stupid idea..." she trailed off as she realized Julia was giving her the widest grin she had ever seen in her life.

"Oh, _Keelah_."

"Shepard, I know what you're thinking. Do _not_ do it."

"Listen to the turian, Shepard. The pyjak doesn't know what she's saying." warned Wrex.

"I changed my mind, let me go back to the _Normandy_!"

* * *

For all of his bulky nature, Wrex was the fastest to vacate the MAKO the second they had rolled to a stop. Followed in quick succession by the rest of the crew as Julia and Amala were the last to leave.

Amala was a little concerned at how violently each of the _Normandy_ crew members were retching. "Do they always get motion sick like this?" asked Amala.

Julia chuckled and rubbed her head, "Nah, they're just wimps."

"With all due respect – _urp! -_ I think the problem is with you two." Even through the helmet (whose mouthport was now open), Amala could tell that Kaidan was looking very green.

"Seconded, - _blargh!_ " affirmed Ashley.

"I concur." said a very weak sounding Liara at the same time.

Garrus and Tali were alternately holding onto each other as they each threw up the contents of their stomachs. Or whatever the alien equivalent of stomachs were.

 _Poor Tali. I hope her suit takes care of all of that._

Wrex was in the snow on all fours in an orange puddle softly muttering to himself as he threw up again and again, "I...am...kroga – _BLEARGH!_ "

"Come on Amala, we'll go on foot from here while these guys grab guard-duty." Julia gently guided Amala away from the crewmates.

The two plodded along through the snow in a comfortable silence as the incline grew steeper and steeper. Amala had no problems obviously, but she was surprised that Jane was able to move as easily as she did.

"Something on my face?" asked Julia with a cheeky grin.

Amala flushed, "N-No! I was just thinking that you looked pretty cool..."

Julia chuckled, "Well I'm no super child, but I get by well enough." Julia put a finger to her lips, indicating for silence as the pair moved carefully up the last bit of rock. Finally, they reached a plateau whereupon Julia immediately dropped to the ground and scooted forward on her belly with Amala copying her every move.

The duo moved forward until the reached the lip of the plateau and peered downwards to the ground below for the reason they had stopped the MAKO. Two metallic creatures were ruffling around in the snowdrift where Amala had fallen, occasionally turning to the other with a strange electronic garbling noise.

Amala wasn't sure what she expected, but the geth weren't too far off from the robots she had in mind. Less fingers and toes and they had a curiously elongated head that tapered off into one giant glowing orb.

Flashlight-heads is what Ashley referred to them as.

It was only thanks to her superior hearing and the fact that she was so close to Julia that Amala heard the slight sliver of movement the older woman made as she stretched out a hand over the edge, clutching two glowing yellow discs.

The hand opened and the discs fell down to the oblivious geth below. A beat passed as Amala watched with fascination as the discs exploded the second they hit the ground. Blue bubbles of energy flickered briefly into existence around the geth before popping as their weapons sizzled and discharged sparks.

In the next moment, Julia had leapt over the edge in a superb feat of athletic grace and plummeted towards the dazed robots with all the confidence of an apex predator. It was such a natural series of events that Amala could only stare open-mouthed as Julia's body became wreathed in a blue aura as her body's descent slowed down significantly.

 _She's a practitioner?_ Amala's eyes widened slightly at the field of Ki that had erupted around Julia. Seeing the blue glow gave Amala an unexpected sense of foreboding for some reason.

 _It feels...wrong. Dangerous, even._

These thoughts were soon forgotten as she watched Julia land neatly on one geth who was still flailing around and caved in it's head as her weight seemed to increase significantly. The other geth buckled under the impact of a massive blue ball of energy that erupted from Julia's hands.

Without bothering to draw her weapon, Shepard continued to beat down the geth with her fists, still wreathed in Ki, until they were nothing but scrap metal. Overall, the entire display had taken less than a minute with Julia moving like a virtuoso as she efficiently and ruthlessly crushed her opposition and left Amala with a slight sense of awe.

She wasn't nearly as strong as Amala, but her techniques and movements were easily better than her own.

" _Not too bad, eh?_ " Amala jumped at the sound of Julia's voice over the comm. _"Jump on down here, I'll catch you."_ On cue, Julia turned towards Amala and stretched out her arms in a preparatory embrace.

While she didn't have a blind trust in Shepard, Amala wasn't concerned about something as small as a thirty foot drop.

 _"_ _Try not to drop me."_ chuckled Amala.

 _"_ _Scouts honor."_ came the amused reply.

Standing up, Amala brushed the snow off of the improvised suit that Tali had made for her and hopped off the ledge. A momentary giddy feeling filled her body as the brief joy of free-fall made itself known. Julia's figure became larger and larger until Amala felt her body slowing down and the effects of gravity became lessened.

A childish giggle escaped from between her lips, before she could stop it; overcome by the curious zero-g sensation. Julia's smile became wider as Amala floated down gently into her waiting embrace.

"The look on your face and that cute little laugh of yours -" Amala's face instantly heated up, "- tells me that you want to try that again."

"...that's not true." Amala looked away embarrassed as she wiggled her small frame to loosen Julia's grip. The knowing chuckle from Julia didn't do much to relieve her shame.

Amala turned away from Julia who had radioed the other squad members of their location and situation. She turned towards the pit where Julia had supposedly found her. The blood had long since frozen and covered the sides of the ditch where it caught the light and give off an eerie red glow.

Amala gingerly stepped over the geth corpses – were they corpses if they were machines - and lowered herself into the pit. Amala's hand lit up with an orange glow as the borrowed omni-tool mounted on her right wrist came to life. With the crash tutorial she had gotten from Tali, she activated a program designed by one of the science officers aboard the _Normandy_.

An invisible pulse was emitted by the omni-tool, pinged to react to the specific characteristics of Elucidan Crystals. Amala stared anxiously at the HUD, her eyes poring over every detail as the scanner worked.

 _ **BRZRT!**_

The harsh tone of a negative scan blurted out from the omni-tool. Amala's heart started beating faster as she anxiously punched in the commands to restart the scanner.

 _ **BRZRT!**_

 _It's a different technology that's all. It's not perfect. I'll just have to do this the old-fashioned way, that's all._

Amala's tail uncoiled from around her waist and poked through a clever little flap that Tali had made especially for it in the suit. She grimaced from the momentary cold wind that bit at her tail as she quickly adjusted to the temperature.

Rebirth practitioners had much tougher bodies than ordinary people and were able to survive not only by virtue of their defences against physical trauma but also against environmental conditions.

Amala's hands were decent enough as she dug through the snow, but her tail had a much better sense for tactile information than her fingers. A problem became quickly apparent as she searched.

"No, no, no, no..." she muttered.

 _It has to be here!_

Amala dug through the snow, as her frustration continued to grow and her search became just a little more frantic.

"It's not here...!"

 _But then, how will I see them again?_

Leaping out of the hole, Amala examined around it's edges before turning to the remains of the geth which Julia was currently standing over.

"Julia! Were they carrying..." her voice trailed off as Julia solemnly shook her head. Amala's knees shock as a sudden wave of nausea overtook her. She wrenched off her helmet, not caring in the slightest as the frigid wind whipped her face.

Amala took great gasping breaths, "Am...I...stuck here?" she muttered, more to herself than anything.

 _Will I be alone?_

She dimly felt Julia coming over to her side and rubbing her back comfortingly. The dull rumble in the ground signalled the arrival of the MAKO, whose occupants quickly filed out and started questioning the duo.

Amala barely heard them as she tried to collect herself, her breaths becoming less panicky and more in control. The brief panic she felt was quickly relieved thanks to Julia's warm ministrations who handed back Amala's helmet when she saw that she was calming down.

"Feeling a little better?" she asked with concern.

"Not very." Amala gave a wan smile however, "Sorry for the freak out there."

"Don't worry about it." soothed Julia. "In all likelihood, the geth probably took your treasure back to their base."

"Right. Their base." Amala felt like an idiot. She had been planning to show off her cool side in front of these people and had instead immediately lost her composure.

 _Some warrior I am._ She thought bitterly.

Julia handed her helmet back to her. "We'll find it, okay?"

"Okay." she snapped her helmet back into place. "Sorry about the delay." she said sheepishly.

"It's no trouble, I'll just make sure to drive faster to make up for the time." laughed Julia.

""NO!"" the others reacted instantly to this declaration.

* * *

What followed next after the brief mutiny by her crew, Julia was forcefully relocated to one of the seats in the back while Ashley took the controls and Garrus got the guns. Much to Liara's (as well as Tali and surprisingly Wrex's) disappointment however, Julia got the small victory of being the one with Amala on her lap.

The smaller girl watched with rapt attention at the sights of Dorvega, hardly blinking. Other people might have assumed that she was captivated by the alien sights, but Amala knew the look in her eyes well. It was the rather disturbing light of a warrior who has been through far too many battles as she looked for her enemy with all the patience of a hawk.

Unsurprisingly, besides Liara and Tali, the others had already picked up on this fact; though they said nothing but an unspoken promise to discuss this at a later time. Julia didn't know what kind of cruel world Lozen was, but the fact that it had created such a look in Amala's eyes, the same kind that the Batarians had done for her all those years ago on Mindoir, pissed her off to no end.

Still, Julia kept her face an impassive mask, only opting to hold the girl a little more tightly.

"Hostiles dead ahead, Commander. Looks like sentry turrets." reported Ashley.

"How many?"

"Two turrets. Both positioned at choke points along the pass. No way we're getting by them."

"LADAR is picking up foot soldiers as well -" said Tali, whose words were punctuated by a "Shit!" from Williams and an explosion that detonated just in front of the MAKO.

"Pull back and try and lure them over here. Be ready on the guns, Garrus."

"Certainly a lot easier now with the change in drivers." quipped Garrus.

"Remind me to introduce you to a biotic spar later, _Vakarian_." said Julia sweetly.

Wisely, Garrus chose that moment to shut his mouth as snickers erupted from the crew. The first of the geth soldiers came around the bend and the MAKO slightly rumbled as the guns pumped the robots full of lead.

 _ **Ratatatatatatatat**_

The geth were obliterated almost upon impact as the small grains of metal pierced the kinetic barriers of the geth before demolishing their metal exterior like they were tissue paper. In a matter of seconds, the geth wave was soon reduced to nothing more than scrap metal. A few soldiers managed to fire off some shots at the MAKO, but Garrus had smartly targeted the rocket troopers first.

"Whoa. That was so _cool_!" exclaimed Amala, sounding and acting more her age. "What else can this thing do?"

Julia smirked as Garrus puffed his chest up, "Wait until you see the main cannon in action!"

"Sure you have the thing properly _calibrated_ , Garrus?" snarked Tali.

Garrus gave a dramatic sigh, "Oh what a world we live in that I am mocked for making our weapons so much better."

As if to emphasize that statement, the second round of geth came around the corner and were summarily dispatched with the harsh staccato beats of the machine guns. The wanton robot carnage was oddly juxtaposed with the occasional giggles and other sounds of delight from Amala every time a geth was disposed of.

By the time they had taken care of the turrets and the MAKO had displayed the power of it's mass accelerator cannon, Amala was already staring at Garrus' seat enviously. It was an adorable sight as the girl seemed to be torn between asking for a chance to seat in the gunner's area and shy at the prospect of asking such a question.

"We're coming up on the outpost, Commander." announced Ashley. The gunnery chief had been dispatching a few geth by running them over, which Julia suspected was mostly due to Amala's delighted reactions to the first time it had happened.

"Run-and-gun away, Chief."

"Aye aye, Commander." chuckled Ashley darkly. The outpost was located within a bowl in a snowy canyon and was wide enough that the MAKO had enough manoeuvrability to dash it's way through the snowy drifts whilst taking potshots at the remaining turrets and geth that dotted the sides of their base.

Julia nodded with approval almost absently to herself. While Ashley wasn't quite as stylish in dispatching the geth as she was, Ashley was putting that heavy vehicular training on display as she deftly manipulated the controls of the MAKO and gave Garrus a steady platform from with which to shoot.

 _ **BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!**_

The mass accelerator cannon repeatedly discharged it's payload as the MAKO shook with each shot. In less than five minutes, the defences of the outpost had been reduced to nothing more than smoking heaps of metal. Nothing further exited from the base, so Julia assumed that they were most likely setting up an ambush for the party as soon as they stepped through the doors.

The MAKO slowly rolled up to the base, the gun swivelled it's muzzle towards the door in case of any new combatants. The entire party waited for a tense moment before Julia gave the order.

"Lock and load, people. Let's get this over with." One by one, the crew members obediently filed out of the vehicle and drew their weapons. "Wrex and Ashley are on point. Kaidan, you'll be with me in the centre generating barriers for the vanguard. Tali, you're with me. Liara, Garrus and Amala; I want you three in the back."

Julia felt reasonably sure that Amala would be safe with this arrangement (as she didn't want to leave her in the MAKO by herself) and that it was tactically effective overall. No one voiced any complaints and Shepard nodded towards Ashley and Wrex to move ahead.

As the newest members, Liara and Amala fell in step with the party quite easily and had their guard up. Julia noted with some amusement that Amala had even drawn her dagger. She doubted it would be very effective against the metal bodies of the geth, but she supposed it was better than nothing.

The door beeped once as the mechanisms holding it shut were overridden as Tali fiddled with her omnitool, and slid open with a _hiss_. Much like the other outpost they had visited, the design of this was fairly similar. A large open room filled with crates of who knows what and chock full of gun-toting geth.

Wrex gave a roar as soon as the first geth popped it's head out of cover and started firing. His kinetic barriers briefly flashed as he answered in kind with his shotgun. The team quickly sought cover behind crates; making sure not to get flanked by any geth on the second floor.

Her fury contained to her eyes, Ashley pressed the attack with her assault rifle, downing geth that had tried to flank Wrex. Julia opted to launch singularities into clusters of geth, sending them spinning through the air and making them easy targets.

A brief flash of white streaking through the air caused her heart to miss a beat as a geth hopper pounced towards her position. The glow of her biotics wrapped around Julia as she smacked the butt of her pistol in a chopping manner at the hopper. The hopper fell stunned to the ground as Julia finished it off with a few well-placed shots to it's head.

Slowly the vanguard progressed forward through the base, taking a circuitous route that had them skirting around the edges of the room. Methodically, each of the geth platforms were eliminated and apart from one tense moment with a rocket trooper, everything was going smoothly.

Of course, that was the moment that the crate that Julia had passed by exploded.

* * *

Seeing the bullets whizzing by made Amala reel back any notion of firing off Ki blasts to aid Julia and the rest of the crew. Not that they seemed to need the help, that is. Almost as if they were one thinking organism, the unit of aliens quickly dispatched the geth that were dropping like flies.

Liara, who was maintaining a pretty constant barrier for the rear group, managed to fire off a few blasts of her own. Interestingly, her Ki was the same color as Julia's. Though her attacks seemed more powerful than the red-head.

There was almost a rhythmic thumping sound that emanated from Garrus' sniper rifle who was coolly exploding the heads of any geth foolish enough to pop it's head out of cover. While the distance between the enemies wasn't an extreme amount, the speed at which he carried out each of his shots was incredible for someone who wasn't a Rebirth practitioner.

It was all going swimmingly until one of the crates in front of them exploded outwards in a spray of shrapnel. Liara squawked in surprise as the barrier shattered and the explosion carried all three of them off their feet.

"Ohhh, what the hell was th-" groaned Amala. Her words froze in her throat as the figure of a truly massive geth stood up from the epicentre of the explosion. It head flashed ominously as it levelled it's shotgun towards Liara and Amala, who she belatedly realized were completely exposed.

"Shit!" Amala saw that the geth was already pulling the trigger and she had no time to pick up Liara and move her to safety. Reacting on instinct, not knowing whether or not it work, her Ki erupted from within her as she activated her _Safe Space_ technique.

The violet three-dimensional cube expanded just in the nick of time as the first shot erupted from the giant geth.

 ** _BANG!_**

The cube shuddered once as the bullets impacted it, but managed to hold it's form. The redirected energy destroyed a few crates around them and bought Amala and Liara a few precious seconds. Already, her tail had uncurled to it's full length and threw Liara behind some crates.

The rest of the party had already opened fire - "Vanguard keep the rest off our flanks. Everyone else, focus on the prime!" on the geth _prime_. The flaps surrounding it's head opened briefly as the machine seemed to contemplate briefly as the violet cube faded from existence and it again pulled the trigger.

 ** _BANG!_**

Amala had already employed _Moonwalker_ and left behind an after-image for the prime to fire at it. It looked real enough though as Amala heard Julia gave out a strangled cry of, "No! Amala!"

Unbeknownst to both the geth and her new friends, she had already leapt up high with her body rolling through the air. As she fell, her tail uncoiled itself like a whip with electricity crackling up and down the length of it.

This was her strongest technique: " _Thunderclap!_ " roared Amala.

Her tail smashed down mightily upon the prime's figure. For a brief moment, her heart was in her throat as a blue energy shield appeared around the geth and halted the tail. That was only a very brief moment as it soon shattered like glass and her attack continued unimpeded upon the prime's head.

The prime had a brief moment to give out a harsh warbling cry as it's entire body was deformed by the sheer force of the impact, crumpling it inwards like a tin can. Amala drastically cut down the amount of Ki she was using in her attack once she realized that she was already using far too much power.

Amala landed back on the ground and kicked the prime towards it's stupid friends, where it exploded into a million tiny little pieces. For a brief moment, silence lulled in the battlefield as both ally and enemy alike stopped and stared incredulously towards her.

Amala knew an opportunity when she saw it.

Her hands shot up with their palms extended towards the first two geth she saw as a brilliant violet beam of Ki shot out. The blasts managed to stagger the geth and dropped their shields. Julia was the first to regain her senses as she took advantage of the now compromised geth and downed them with two shots from her pistol.

The battle resumed as Amala ducked back behind cover to where she had tossed Liara, fearful for the woman's safety.

"Liara? Liara!" shouted Amala anxiously. _Shit, this is the Wasteland all over again!_

Liara's eyes briefly flickered open as she groaned, "Amala...?"

Relief washed through Amala as Garrus called over from his position, "She okay?!"

"She's fine! I think she took the brunt of the blast! What about you?"

"Fine! Listen, push the green button on her omnitool to get her some medi-gel!" shouted back Garrus as he continued to fire towards the remaining geth.

Liara attempted to rise, but Amala kept her from moving too quickly as she found the right button on the holographic display of Liara's omnitool. Amala supposed she had done it correctly as Liara sighed in relief and gave her a weak smile, "I'm okay now, thank you."

Amala looked doubtfully at her but allowed her to get up. "How are you feeling? Are you okay? Sorry, I didn't know what to do, but to get you out of the way, so I had to toss you behind these crates..." rambled Amala.

"I'm okay, Amala. Let's just finish this." said Liara soothingly.

Amala breathed deeply and nodded. The two stood up cautiously as Liara once more erected barriers around them and Garrus. The team moved much more cautiously after that, avoiding any large crates, but it soon became apparent that the geth were out of tricks to use as their numbers dwindled and they retreated to the second floor.

"I. AM. KROGAN!" roared Wrex as he charged up the stairs towards the geth who were taking potshots at the crew from the catwalk. He was an unstoppable force of nature as the geth were shoved off from their high ground and thrown to the ground where they were quickly dispatched of.

The roars of everyone's guns seemed to fire in unison as the battle reached its climax. Geth were alternately being levitated by the strange techniques of Julia and Kaidan or were being destroyed by the deadly aim of Ashley and Garrus.

The hail of bullets stopped and Amala timidly poked her head out from behind cover.

"Nothing showing up on radar, Commander." said Ashley

"All clear, Commander" said Wrex from the second level.

Julia stood up from behind her cover, "Well done, people. Let's see if these bastards were hiding anything good."

"Hiding anything good?" whispered Amala to Liara and Garrus.

"Shepard's got an inordinate fondness for looting." said Garrus, raising his voice as he did so.

"Not my fault the Council won't bother to fund their Spectres." grumbled Julia, who didn't deny Garrus' claims.

"By the way, well done with that prime, Amala." praised Julia, "I knew you were already incredible, but that was amazing!"

Amala was glad that she had her helmet on because she knew she was blushing pretty hard, "It was nothing..."

"Don't be so humble. If you hadn't acted when you did, Liara would probably be dead."

Garrus gave Liara an abridged version of the events where she was briefly knocked out. By the end of it, Liara had pulled Amala into a tight hug and lifted her into the air.

"Thank you so much, Amala. I thought I would be the one protecting you, when it turns out you didn't need me at all."

"T-That's not true! If you hadn't taken the brunt of the blow, Garrus and I would have died for sure!"

 _Well, Garrus probably would have died._

Liara's sincere gratitude made it hard for Amala to wriggle out of the Asari's embrace. "S-so. Um. Can you please put me down?"

Liara gave Amala a warm chuckle as she set her down gently on the ground. Amala noticed that the others, minus Wrex, were coming over to her. "Right! I should probably see if they have my treasure on the second floor. Do you guys mind looking through the crates here? Okay, thanks!"

Without giving them a chance to reply, Amala leaped onto the top of one crate and sailed across to the room up to the second floor with a light jump. She breathed a sigh of relief, though her neck heated up when she heard the laughter of the other crew members below. A shadow fell over her form and she looked up to see the massive frame of Wrex.

"Good work with the Prime, pyjak." said Wrex, his expression inscrutable.

"Uh...thanks. Nice work yourself with...all the other guys."

Wrex grinned and clapped her on the shoulder amiably, "Let's see if these metal-heads have what you're looking for."

Amala was glad that Wrex was not the overly affectionate type and responded cheerily to him, "Yeah!"

* * *

Julia silently ground her teeth as Tali worked on scrubbing the video logs of the outpost. Behind her, pacing like a caged animal, was Amala who would occasionally look up towards Tali before resuming her pacing.

Apart from a few armours, credits and omni-tool that Julia had appropriated, the item they were most interested in was nowhere to be found. The first floor was filled with cracked open crates and the second wasn't much better. They had turned the entire place over, but they couldn't find any trace of Amala's treasure.

Tali was busy checking over what few logs she could retrieve from the base and memory cores of the geth who hadn't managed to self-destruct them in time to see if they could find any information.

With agonizing slowness, the seconds that ticked by felt like they were hours, until -

"Got it!" declared Tali triumphantly.

Instantly the crew became alive as they all huddled around Tali who fiddled around with the settings on her omni-tool to start playing the logs she had found. A video began playing whose edges were slightly frayed and the sound was distorted. Still the picture was clear enough that it offered a view of the entrance of the outpost.

 _Two geth soldiers were dragging a golden-haired human by his arms. He appeared to be rather seriously injured and appeared to be saying something, though it was too quiet for the sensors to pick up._ Julia heard a sharp intake of breath from behind her.

"Regis...?" breathed out Amala.

Julia turned her head sharply as Tali paused the video, "Do you know that person?"

Amala swallowed hard and nodded, her eyes never leaving the still image on Tali's omni-tool. "Yeah...that's the guy who nearly cut me in half."

A loud rumbling noise broke the shocked reverie that had overcome the group and Julia took a few seconds to realize that it was Wrex growling. "I'll make sure to help you return the favour, pyjak."

Amala's lip quirked upwards in some amusement, but she was still quite shaken. There was an unknown emotion on the girl's face that Julia didn't think was fear. It seemed almost...sad.

"Tali, can you zoom in on that image at all?" asked Garrus.

"Sure...but the resolution is going to take a hit." said Tali hesitantly. The two had still had a somewhat uneasy relationship, no thanks due to the somewhat insensitive remarks that Garrus had made about Quarians. Something that Julia was quick to chastise him for.

"Garrus?" asked Julia questioningly.

The image panned forward as Tali fiddled with the settings to improve the image when Garrus finally said, "I'm not seeing any tail. Or any ears."

The group's eyes widened and Amala's face blanched.

"You're right...he almost looks...like a human." said Ashley slowly.

For her part, Julia paid more attention to Amala whose shoulders slumped in resignation. "You said you know this person, Amala? He's from Lozen, as well?"

"Yeah...Regis...he's not..." she seemed to fumble with her words, but Julia merely fixed a patient eye on the girl. "Regis is a human."

The bombshell sat for a few seconds before it went off.

"What do you mean he's human?!" demanded Ashley.

"Isn't he from your world? Shouldn't he also be a Beastfolk?" asked Kaidan.

"He's speaking in the same language as Amala, though!"

"Enough!" barked Julia, "We'll discuss this later on the ship. Right now, we should focus on finding whatever evidence we can and finishing up our business on this planet."

While the crew still obviously wanted answers, none of them voiced their complaints as Tali restarted the video. _Regis appeared to be saying something to the two geth soldiers who stood their stoically. Another geth, a prime, brought out a terminal and set it in front of Regis while another geth entered carrying a clear container with something blue in it's interior._

"Can you zoom in on that box, Tali!" pleaded Amala. Julia could see the quarian girl give Amala a doubtful look, but she complied.

Amala's eyes took on a hungry look, "That's it! That's my teleportation treasure!" Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully, "It also looks like there's some basic Elucidan Crystals in there as well for some reason."

The video continued to play as the terminal on the video was activated and a face appeared that set the crew of the _Normandy_ on edge.

 _"_ _What is it?" asked Saren. His subvocals clearly indicating his annoyance._

 _"_ _Saren-Prophet, we have found an unusual human speaking a language unknown to our database as well as foreign materials in his possession."_

 _"_ _You called me because of a single human?" growled Saren._

 _"_ _Negative. Geth platforms discovered blood evidence of an unknown alien race sharing genetic markers with humanity. The human in our possession also has unique characteristics."_

 _"_ _Such as?"_

 _"_ _Strength and endurance are all significantly greater than any organic and rival that of Thresher Maws. Upon discovery by patrolling platforms, he was able to move at speeds exceeding Mach 1 whilst being heavily injured before being captured. Furthermore, there is no evidence of any cybernetics in his body. We believed this to be of suitable importance for Nazara."_

 _"_ _Impossible! As if any creature, let alone a_ human _, would be capable of such things." instantly denied Saren._

 _"_ _Transferring data now." said the geth prime in answer._

 _Julia knew enough about turian expressions to know that Saren's face had changed from scepticism to shock as he looked through the files that the geth had transferred over. Saren became contemplative as his voice took on a decidedly more worried tone, seeming to react to some unknown voice on his end. "What of this alien race? Did you find a body?"_

 _"_ _Negative. Our investigations have led us to believe that an unknown party associated with Alliance Military already retrieved anything that might've been at the site."_

 _"_ _And these unknown materials?"_

 _The geth prime gestured towards the container bearing Amala's treasure, "Preliminary analysis indicates that the majority of these materials appear to amplify mass effect fields by a factor of 237.465%. One set of materials that is composed of the same substance seems to exert a different effect."_

 _"_ _What effect?"_

 _"_ _Unknown."_

 _Saren once more lapsed into silence. Julia noted that he again did that funny reaction as if he was talking to someone they couldn't see. Benezia, perhaps?_

 _"_ _Currently I am in the midst of dealing with Aria and her ilk. Send a dropship to the rendezvous point with the materials and the human."_

 _"_ _Acknowledged."_

 _"_ _Find out who took the alien as well and retrieve the sample before eliminating them."_

Saren cut the call and the rest of the log played out with the geth shocking Regis and restraining him, before stuffing him into a container. The crew members and Julia digested all of this information in silence, before Wrex finally broke it.

"Since when do Geth _talk_?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – Show and Tell**

Amala sat in the conference room as the rest of the ground crew who were seated in a circle around her, levelled uncomfortable stares on her. She squirmed in her seat, but otherwise didn't move. Amala hurriedly ran through all the scenarios in her mind, including one in which the crew attacked her for withholding information as they waited for Julia.

It didn't help that all of them were armed.

Amala drummed her fingers nervously on the table as she elected what to do in case they attacked.

 _I would have to take out the Ki users first. It seems like Liara is the most proficient of the ones here, followed up by Wrex and Kaidan. Wrex's size makes him the more inviting target, but I think Liara should be made the priority._

 _But even if I managed to subdue them, where the hell am I going to go? It's not as if I know where Lozen is in the universe or even if it_ is _in this universe at all! Maybe if I commandeer the ship, I can just go to some random planet and train there until I ascend. Course, considering how sparse the Universal Energy seems to be in this place, who knows how long that would take._

 _Ah, crap, I really wish they would stop glaring at me..._

The door hissed open at the end of the room and Amala looked up to see Julia walking into the room wearing what she would later call her "Commander Mask". She was holding a thin rectangle of some sorts with a keyboard on it as she put it on the table before walking up to Amala.

"So Amala...is there something you wanted to tell us?" Julia's tone wasn't as harsh as she thought it'd be. It sounded almost...kind.

"...about Regis?"

Julia nodded, "That's a start. I'm more concerned about the fact that he's human."

"...what about it?" Amala didn't look Julia in the eyes.

"Why didn't you tell us?" demanded Ashley.

Amala bristled at the brunette's tone and she looked at the woman dead in the eyes, "Tell you what, exactly? That the first thing that I wake up to are two humans next to some strange creatures I've never even _heard_ of before and acting like nothing's wrong? That I'm suddenly told that not only am I on a ship in outer space, that I was found on a completely different world!"

"So _forgive me_ if I wasn't entirely forthcoming!" Amala stood up now as her voice raised in volume, though she kept her Ki from exploding outwards, "Besides! What does it matter anyway?! Knowing he's human or not won't help me get back home! All it does is satisfy your fucking curiosity!"

She doubted the translator allowed the swear to go through, but Amala was pretty sure the general idea came across at the now abashed expressions on everyone's faces.

Julia's quiet, but strong voice entered the fray after her tirade, "You're right, Amala. It's not something we needed to know, but _I_ would _like_ to know if you had any special reasons for withholding this information."

Amala looked at Julia and saw the same woman that she inexplicably felt like she could trust. She was still scared though, as Regis' betrayal was still fresh in her own mind. Julia seemed to pick up on this as she stooped so that she was eye-level with Amala.

"I know you're scared, but please believe me when I say that I won't hurt you."

Amala's lower lip trembled before she softly spoke, "I'm only half-Beastfolk. My father is a Vollföldren and my mother..."

She took a deep breath, "My mother is a human." Amala tensed reflexively as Julia's hand moved and then relaxed when she put it on her shoulder.

"Okay. Thank you for telling me that. Can you tell me a little bit more about your world?"

Amala looked cautiously towards the other crew members. None of them had that greedy glint in their eyes that those slavers had when they discovered how talented she was. She couldn't be sure with Garrus or Tali, but they seemed okay.

"Okay. But it'll be faster if I show you." Julia's brow furrowed in confusion as Amala palmed her way through her necklace, before settling on a crystal that contained the appropriate memories for a sufficient explanation.

 _No need tell them about my own cultivation, but I can at least explain the basics..._

She plucked the crystal from it's holding and held it in her palm for the room to see. "This is made from a material known as Elucidan. It makes up the core of my teleportation treasure and is the basis for all advanced technologies in Lozen."

"Didn't the geth say in those videos we found that these crystals amplified biotics?" reminded Garrus.

Julia shook her head, "By a significant factor apparently, but I'm not about to test my biotics on the ship." Julia looked at Amala, "Also, I'm assuming you need those Elucidan crystals for your own repairs, right?"

Her eyebrows raised in surprise and she nodded. Julia gave her a reassuring smile, "Then the point is moot."

Thanking Julia with her eyes, Amala gestured to the crystal in her hand. "This object is known as a Memory Crystal and it allows one to peruse the memories of their own and other's people."

"It's kind of like that display on Tali's omni-tool that showed Regis being held captive by the geth. Only it needs Ki for it to be projected to others."

"Ki?" asked Julia.

Now it was Amala's turn to frown, "Well, yeah. You know...Ki...You, Liara, Kaidan and Wrex were using it back in the base."

"You mean biotics?'

"If that's what you call Ki, then yeah. Biotics. You know? Inner energy drawn from the soul?"

If it were a less serious situation, Amala would've snickered at the flabbergasted expressions on everyone's faces.

"I think we're talking about different things..." said Julia slowly.

Amala cocked her head before putting the memory crystal back in it's socket as she activated her Ki. A violet aura ensconced her frame as she felt the familiar ecstasy of power coursing through her body.

Much like a curious child, Julia was already reaching a hand towards the visible part of her Ki before stopping her hand, "Is it safe to touch?"

"Go ahead. It's not going to melt your fingers or anything." said Amala mirthfully.

Despite the morbid joke, Julia's fingers quested forwards fearlessly until it touched the violet Ki. A smile spread across her beautiful face, "It's so warm. It's like sunlight. If this is coming from your soul, then you must be just as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside."

Amala blushed hard as an invisible bubble in the room seemed to pop and the rest of the crew started chuckling.

"Didn't know you were such a ladykiller, Commander." joked Kaidan.

"All part of my charm, Kaidan." she said with a lascivious wink towards Kaidan, who immediately turned red. "Well, biotics aren't _nearly_ as interesting Amala. They come from being exposed to a certain substance known as Element Zero or eezo for short when we were still babies."

"With a lot of hard work and special devices, we can use our biotics to control dark energy and use it in combat." said Kaidan, taking over the explanation.

"Is dark energy like Universal Energy?" asked Amala.

"Maybe. What does Universal Energy mean for you?" said Julia. They were operating from the same frame of reference finally and knew how to phrase each other's questions properly.

"I don't really know to be honest." admitted Amala, "All I know is that it's this...force that we take into our bodies when we first step onto the path of martial cultivation. This force then helps...stimulate our bodies to produce it's own energy. My mom told me that it was Heaven's way of helping us survive in Lozen."

"And martial cultivation is how you did all of those incredible feats back at the geth outpost?" said Tali.

"Yes. If you're good enough to be able to sense Universal Energy, a person can go through various stages known as martial cultivation to become stronger and stronger."

Amala paused to collect her thoughts as she organized the various levels in her head and attempted to summarize them in an easy to understand manner:

"There are six overall levels: The first is known as the Pulse Stage and it is where you develop your own unique Ki. There are eight levels to this stage and by the third stage, a person is able to use Ki to use martial techniques."

"For example, I have a defensive technique that I created using and experimenting with my Ki that redirects the energy of physical attacks." Amala held out a hand as she generated a three-dimensional cube in her hand that quickly expanded until it encased her body. She turned to Julia and said, "Try and hit me."

To her credit, Julia hesitated, "Um, are you sure about this...?"

"Unless you can hit harder than that Geth Prime could with his gun, then it should be fine."

Julia punched halfheartedly towards the cube. A surprised expression appeared on her face as she met an invisible wall in between the seemingly-hollow nature of the cube. Amala grinned, "Aren't you supposed to be the commander of this ship?"

Wrex chuckled, "Pyjak's got you there, Shepard."

Julia's eyes narrowed as she became serious and threw a full roundhouse punch towards the barrier. The cube flashed briefly, but otherwise remained standing. "Anyone else feel a gentle breeze roll by?" snarked Amala.

Julia gave a dark chuckle, "Try this on for size, then." Her body flared blue as she delivered a far more devastating punch towards the cube. This time, the cube visibly trembled once, but quickly returned to normal. A shockwave erupted from the cube that Amala directed off to the side so that it hit the walls with a dull rumble.

Amala dispelled the cube and smiled mischievously at Julia, "Not bad, right?"

Julia laughed as the _biotic_ (not Ki) glow faded from her body, "I'll admit. I'm pretty impressed. Don't think that was everything I've got, though."

"So what are these other stages?" asked Garrus, a boyish excitement seemed to color his voice.

"The second stage is known as the Rebirth Stage. There are only five levels in this stage and I'm currently in the fourth level. The Rebirth Stage is where the accumulated Universal Energy starts remaking your body, so that it's tougher and faster."

"So before you hit that stage..."

"I would've been only slightly stronger than your average twelve year old if I wasn't using my Ki." said Amala, wincing a little as she blurted out her age.

"You're twelve years old?" asked Ashley incredulously.

"Well, yeah." said Amala defensively.

"Christ, you look like you're only ten." said Ashley, shaking her head.

Amala's eye twitched, but she didn't say anything. They had delved off into another tangent where Amala told them how long a year was on Lozen and Tali had calculated that Amala was a little younger than twelve according to standard Galactic time.

She was still older than ten, dammit.

" _Anyway_..." Amala getting them off the age topic, which a smirking Julia evidently noticed. "The third stage is known as the Element Stage. This is where one's Ki changes into a different type of energy known as Exalt. Using this Exalt, one can use the various elements such as Fire or Thunder in different techniques as well as construct various weapons and armour using these elements."

"One of the requirements for being able to enter the Element Stage is that a person be able to sense and partially be able to use these elements. My strongest technique, for example, makes use of the Thunder element. It's the same technique that allowed me to destroy that big geth."

 _Not that I actually needed something so powerful to do so. Better safe than sorry, though._

"That was definitely a powerful blow." muttered Garrus.

"And that's only when you're _barely_ able to use these elements?" Kaidan shook his head in wonder.

Sensing that they were going to get off topic, Amala charged ahead, without bothering to explain the various sub-levels in the Element Stage, "I don't know much about the last three stages, so I'm only able to give some basics. The fourth stage is the Dominion Stage."

"At this level, a person can suppress the movements of all those below him in level. I've only had it happen to me at once and it felt like there was a mountain on top of me." Amala shuddered at the memory and wrapped her arms around herself.

"The fifth stage is the Primal Stage. All I know is that if someone is at this stage, they're the rulers of a nation or empire and they're monstrously powerful."

Amala's voice grew quieter, "Finally, the last stage is known as the Divinity Stage."

"Divinity." repeated Julia, "As in...?"

"As in...a God." said Amala. She held up her hands to forestall any questions that were inevitably about to erupt, "Look, I don't know if they are actually Gods or not. All I know is that the oldest Divine that I know about has been in power for at least a hundred thousand years."

"Or so they say anyway. I've never actually met one and as far as I know, they could only be slightly more powerful than Primal Stage practitioners." finished Amala.

Julia cleared her throat, "Well...that's...certainly a lot to take in."

* * *

"...yeah..." replied Amala lamely.

"You...were going to show us something?" Julia attempted to take her crew's mind and her own off of the topic of godhood with another question. She clarified herself when she saw Amala's blank look, "The memory crystal?"

"Oh! Right." Amala took off the crystal from it's socket and once more held it in her palm. Julia watched with rapt fascination as a gorgeous shade of purple enveloped the girl's hand and wrapped around the crystal like a cocoon. The fantastical sight was only heightened as the crystal hovered a few inches above the girl's palm and began to pulse at a regular rate.

Amala's eyes were closed and her brow was furrowed in concentration; her lips silently moving in what might as well be an incantation for all she knew. Her eyes opened at the same time a beam of light shot out from the cocoon and stopped in the middle of the room as if it hit a barrier.

The air seemed to ripple as if it were a pool of water that had a stone dropped in it as various colors seemed to fill the blank space. Evidently this was a form of 3-d television, but one that seemed to be much flashier.

"These are the different races of Lozen." said Amala. "Well, at least the ones I've seen, anyway." she quickly added.

An image of a human woman appeared on the air screen. As if it were a movie that had been put on pause, the image suddenly started moving. The perspective was quite low to the ground and the woman was looking directly towards the "camera" with a smile.

"What did you make for dinner, sweetheart?" The woman's voice was smooth and lilting as she looked with evident love upon the viewer.

"Razag!" the voice of Amala happily burbled out, though at a tone that was louder than the woman's.

Julia flinched in surprise as she caught a whiff of a smell that shouldn't be on a starship. It was a heady scent filled with spices and a little bit of smoke that reminded her of old-timey family restaurants.

Amala seemed to anticipate Julia's question and spoke before Julia could ask. "Memory crystals are viewed from the perspective of a person's memory. They include all the sights, sounds and smells from a memory." The rest of her squadmates nodded in understanding. "Projections aren't able to convey touch and taste however." she added wistfully.

"This one is a memory I had of my mother and I." Amala had an extremely gentle smile and simultaneous forlorn expression as she gazed at the scene. Amala's mother moved closer to the camera with wide arms and evidently was giving her daughter a hug. "It was my mother's birthday and it was the first time I had tried cooking a proper meal for her. I had been practising for days in secret with the maids."

Amala rapidly blinked her eyes as the scene abruptly changed to what appeared to be a wasteland of some sorts. Great clouds of dust swept across the land and temporarily obscured the vision as an arm came over the camera. The sounds of coughing could be heard, as the arm was slowly lowered. The screen would flash black every now and then which Julia presumed to be due to blinking.

"You okay, _mila_?" A deep baritone voice rumbled throughout the room, mixed with the snarling of some beast that set Julia and everyone else instinctively on edge. The dust cleared and a tall figure that looked to be about six foot four was holding onto the tusks of a creature that looked like a cross between a boar and a tiger.

Which was on fire.

The figure turned towards the camera and smiled, "Father!" cried out Amala or at least someone that sounded a lot like her.

Julia's first thought was that the man looked like a true predator. Vertical pupils set within yellow eyes seemed to glow mysteriously with an inner fire, the man's jaw was particularly prominent, resembling that of a panther, and heightened his overall masculinity. A sleek black tail and just as dark fur ran up his heavily muscled limbs.

He had a strange-looking crimson tattoo that resembled the mouth of a carnivorous animal could be faintly discerned and seemed to glow with it's own inner light every now and then. His muscled back was almost human save for the long elongated bulge underneath his skin that started from the top of his cervical spine and ended somewhere below his lumbar area where his tail protruded. The rest of his chiseled body was covered in a smooth dark leathery hide that was marred only by a large scar stretching across his chest. His hands sported dangerous-looking silver claws that bit into the tusks of the still snarling beast.

"That's my dad." Three words came from Amala's mouth and were filled with such pride that Julia couldn't help but smile fondly at the girl. "He's a Vollföldren."

"A what?" asked Garrus.

"It's a type of Beastfolk." answered Amala.

"How many types are there?" The image started to change as Amala's father and the beast began to engage in an epic battle.

"Dammit, turian. It was just getting good." grumbled Wrex.

"I can show you the rest of it later, Wrex. It's a _really_ good fight." If there was any unease left in Amala, it was drowned by the excitement of showing off her father. The krogan's eyes softened and he simply nodded.

"There's six other members of the Beastfolk:"

The screen changed to a feathered humanoid with large wings sprouting from her back. "Aviaföldren." said Amala.

The screen displayed each of the different types of Beastfolk as Amala named each one. All of them looked like a cross between a human and some form of an animal and reminded Julia of the old legends on Earth about werewolves.

Amala continued to move on as a completely new figure dominated the screen. Towering over even Wrex, was a swarthy scaled creature that looked reptilian in appearance. With three claws and burning yellow eyes, it was one of the most alien creatures she had seen since first meeting a turian.

"You will always have a place to call home here, Amala." A snake-like tongue flickered out of it's mouth as it said this, though it didn't place as much emphasis on the "s" sounds as Julia thought it would.

"That's my friend Kelia Shar-col Amidwa. She helped my dad and I a lot when we first arrived in Arstok territory."

"Fascinating." breathed Liara. "And all of these races lived on one world?"

"Yes. Although, there's still three more races."

"Three more?!" cried out Liara, "Your world already goes against everything I know about evolution!"

Amala shrugged helplessly as the view changed to show a small pixie creature with fluttering wings. The small creature was held in the "camera's" hand and chattered excitedly in an unknown language.

Amala giggled at the scene, "That's Meera of the Wayward River. She's a Lumoix. They're a very shy race, but they're super fun to be with once you get to know them."

"They look like fairies from fairy tales." said Ashley with no small trace of wonder in her voice.

"What is she saying?" asked Tali, oozing with curiosity.

Amala giggled again, "She's telling me about a prank she pulled on some humans who were in their territory. She had snuck into the camp and covered the inside of their tents with a plant that causes severe itching."

Her face turned serious as the Meera on screen continued to chatter endlessly to the camera, occasionally laughing with the younger Amala. "The last two races are...somewhat difficult to show. One race is only known as the Shadow People and very little is known about them. The other is a rather...hostile race and the only memory I have of them is..."

"...when you were in a fight with them." finished Julia.

Amala nodded as the image changed to what Julia could only describe as a battlefield. The familiar stench of death and fear was well-known, even if it was on an alien world. A steel glint of a blade filled the screen as it was repelled just in time by a dagger. The blade bounced back and it's wielder was revealed in full when Amala paused the memory.

Julia had no idea how to describe the creature, for it seemed to belong in a Lovecraft horror novel. It had a triangular shaped head with two set's of eyes like a batarian, but ones that were angled down to the side and glowed an eerie blue. A slit was cut across the base of the head in a jagged red line and was partially split open to reveal rows of sharp teeth. While it was wearing armour, the creature had an unusual cylindrical torso with two arms ending in three fingers and four tentacles bursting out from the back.

"What the hell is that." said a disgusted Wrex.

"A Vakkar. A race of beings that essentially forced the coalition between Beastfolk and Humanity." said Amala quietly. "I had run into the misfortune of meeting an advanced scouting group."

The room returned back to normal as Amala shut down whatever mechanism was powering the crystal and it once again returned to a seemingly ordinary piece of jewellery. She gave them an apologetic smile, "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not continue playing that memory. It's useful in terms of strategy, but not exactly something that's pleasant."

"It's okay." reassured Julia, "There's no need to show us anything you don't want to. Thank you for showing that."

Amala blinked and then awkwardly shuffled her feet, "You're welcome." She looked up at Julia, "...so, what happens now?"

"Now, I think we should all get some rest." It had been a long day and they wouldn't reach Omega for a few days.

Amala stayed rooted in her spot as the others began to get up to leave, "...so I can stay on the ship?" she started to rummage through the bag she had on her back, "If you need money, I don't have a lot of it...but..."

Julia placed a soothing hand on the girl's head, "Hey, it's okay. We're not mad at you. Of course you can stay on the ship." she gave Amala a conspiratorial wink, "Don't worry about paying. Garrus can foot the bill."

"Hey!" shouted Garrus in mock indignation.

Amala's lips quirked up in a half-smile, "Thank you." she whispered.

"You're welcome." said Julia just as quietly. This was bad. Amala was seriously too cute.

"Let's go get something to eat first and then we'll find you a place to sleep."

* * *

Amala stared balefully at the sign etched across the top of the door, the glowing green light glowed almost ominously as it bathed her in it's alien light.

 **WOMEN'S BATHROOM**

"Forgot how to open these doors?" said a kind voice, "Just push the green light, like this!"

A mousy brown-haired woman by the name of Talitha Draven ushered a frozen Amala through the doors. Even having lived two lives, Amala was a very shy person and the thought of a public bath was more than a little daunting. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that past the lockers where various women were putting their clothes were stalls with shower heads.

The stalls had no doors, but some privacy was better than no privacy. It had been a very long time since she was Jamie Cole, but Amala had long since gotten used to her new identity.

Some parts were still hard to deal with though.

As the door closed, Amala's ears flattened against their head at the sudden squeals of the women who had noticed the duo's presence.

"Oh my gosh, Williams. Why didn't you say that she was so cute?!" a blonde woman dressed only in a pair of uniform slacks rushed over to Amala's side and pulled her into an embrace.

"Hi sweetie, my name's Carol. What's yours?"

"Amala." she muffled a reply as her face started heating up. Thankfully, Talitha managed to extricate Amala from Carol's grasp.

"Ease up on the affection there, Carol. Amala's a little shy." chuckled Talitha.

Amala merely clutched her spare clothes a little tighter to herself as she quickly moved over to the lockers, pulling open a door and hiding her body as much as she could.

"Alright, ladies. We can introduce ourselves later. Give the girl some space" came the husky voice of Ashley beside her as some of the women near Amala chuckled good-naturedly.

"T-thanks." Amala was a little uncertain how to act around the woman. They had both gotten pretty heated back in the conference room.

"Least I could do, considering how I acted beforehand." said Ashley smoothly.

"N-no, I was holding back information after all. It's only natural that you'd get angry." said Amala quickly.

 _Not to mention that I'm still holding back some things. Like the fact that of the language you guys were first speaking, I recognized the odd few smattering words of English mixed with some Asian language, which raises some interesting questions._

Amala kept her face blank however. She had had a long time to practice keeping details about her reincarnation a secret and she was not about to divulge anything about it now.

"That's still no excuse for me to raise my voice like that. I should have been like the commander and seen just how scary all this must have been for you." said Ashley as she continued to disrobe and Amala continued to do her very best to look her in the eye.

"Well, you can make it up to me by showing me how these...wash closets work." Amala divested herself of her shirt and slacks and tossed them into the locker, "And help me get settled into the ship...um...is there something on my face?"

Ashley was fixing her a critical stare that was making Amala slightly uncomfortable. "What are you wearing around your chest?"

Amala looked down at the gauze she had wrapped around her own budding female anatomy. She had known the changes her body would eventually make, but she was reluctant to acknowledge it. Having a period already annoyed the shit out of her as she had been hoping a half-Beastfolk wouldn't have to deal with something like that.

"Er. I guess it would be something similar to what you're wearing on your chest?" said Amala, not quite looking Ashley in the eyes. Her mother had had those same eyes when she first discovered how Amala dressed herself.

"Uh-huh." said Ashley, not buying her excuse in the slightest. "I think I'll introduce you to a new piece of wardrobe after you shower."

 _God dammit._

* * *

Julia smiled fondly at the small bundle wrapped up in the corner of her quarters as she left the room with a datapad in hand. The two had had a small argument with Amala both refusing to share a bed and for Julia to give up her own. Julia had eventually relented when Amala mentioned that she had had an awful experience of someone trying to enter her bed when she was asleep.

Her mind became suffused in rage at that conversation. The expression on Amala's face was enough to tell Julia what had probably happened. With Amala's help, Julia had set up a small fort of blankets and pillows in the corner so that it resembled a very cozy nest. It was an admittedly enjoyable experience and reminded Julia of happier times when she had done something similar with her younger brother.

Thinking of her younger brother reminded Julia that she needed to pay a visit to the Citadel soon and visit him. His recent messages seemed to indicate that he was doing a lot better after she had finally strong-armed him into going to his therapy sessions. Julia had no clue when she would have the time to do so with all of this Saren nonsense, but she hoped it would be soon.

"How is she?"

Julia was a bit surprised to see all of her ground crew in the mess hall. They were all clutching steaming mugs of their own species' equivalent of coffee.

"She's asleep now." said Julia, answering Kaidan's question. "Lucky girl doesn't have to worry about AARs" holding up the datapad in her hand.

The group chuckled as Julia went to pour her own cup of coffee. She took a sip of the steaming brew as she leaned against a counter; datapad temporarily forgotten on the counter as she enjoyed her drink.

"Thoughts?" said Julia, not really asking anyone in particular.

"About the mission or about Amala?" asked Garrus.

"Both."

"I would say that Amala is dangerously sweet then, ma'am." said Ashley. "I don't think she'd have any trouble taking us out, but she seems to be just as she appears; a sweet girl."

"It's a pretty remarkable dichotomy." agreed Julia.

"Considering how easily she took out that prime, I would say that remarkable is a bit of an understatement." said Kaidan. "She also indirectly helped us get a lead on Saren."

"I believe that should be the limit of her involvement, however. As strong as she is, Amala's still just a child." said Liara.

"She's probably going to want to come with us though if it means finding a way back home." pointed out Tali.

Julia nodded, "While I doubt any of us would be able to stop her if she wanted to do so, I don't think Amala is the kind of girl to act in such a manner."

"The girl's been through battlefields of her own." rumbled Wrex, "If she wants to join, she'd make a powerful ally."

Julia sighed, "I'll be the first to admit that Amala would be incredibly valuable in taking down Saren, but there's no way in hell I'm taking her down into another fight."

"Good. I'd have to rip your head off, otherwise Shepard." Wrex nodded in satisfaction and took another sip of his drink. He glared at the rest of the crew who were levelling smirks at him. "What?'

"You've gotten awfully attached to Amala, considering how short she's been with us." teased Tali.

Wrex huffed and said nothing, though he fixed a glare on Ashley who had snorted.

"Let's move on then." Julia declared an end to the 'Amala talks', "Anyone here been on Omega before?"

"A few times." said Wrex, "It's where I got most of my contracts." who then added an afterthought: "Where I completed most of them too, now that I think about it."

"It's fitting that Saren would run to Omega with the rest of the scum of the galaxy." he snorted.

"I've heard the stories, but is it really as bad as they say?" asked Tali.

"Survival of the fittest is the only real law on Omega, so in a lot of ways, it's like Tuchanka. Except with a worse smell."

"And this Aria?" asked Julia.

Wrex's eyes glittered ominously, "A very dangerous asari whose ruled Omega for a few centuries now. Best not to get on her bad side."

"Great." said Julia, "You're with me on the ground team then Wrex. Any other volunteers?"

"Something tells me you're going to decide who goes, regardless of whether or not they volunteer." muttered Garrus.

"Thank you for volunteering Garrus." said Julia brightly, "Ashley and Kaidan, consider yourself to have been volun _told_ as well."

Garrus gave a mock groan as the two marines chuckled and gave her an "Aye aye".


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – Meet and Greet**

While there was no sunlight to wake her up, Amala's internal clock woke her up early in the morning as usual. The training by her mother and father caused Amala to have an usual way of waking up however.

Her eyes remained closed and her ears remained still as she continued her gentle breathing movements. There was a complete silence within the room, save for the steady breaths of someone a few metres in front of her and to the right. Julia, most likely.

 _How's the temperature?_

Normal.

 _Are there any unusual smells?_

None.

 _What can you see?_

Amala lay curled up on her side, much like a housecat, with her back to the wall in a corner of Julia's quarters. She opened her right eye by a fraction and scanned quickly before closing it again.

 _All clear. Low lighting. Exit is ten metres away from current position._

Amala smiled as the usual checks were completed and she slowly eased out of her bed, yawning slightly as she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. Thinking that she would pad silently out the door, she was surprised to meet Julia's very awake eyes as she passed by her bed.

"Morning." said Amala with a smile.

Julia's eyes crinkled and she gave Amala a sleepy smile, "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"Very. Thanks again for helping me set up my bed." Amala dipped her head nervously, "Sorry if I woke you up."

Julia chuckled to show she didn't mind, "Soldier's instincts, dear. Glad to see even a superchild can't sneak by them."

"Being stronger doesn't make me stealthier, unfortunately."

"'Unfortunately?" Julia snorted, "Lord knows what trouble you'd get into if you were stealthy as well."

Amala stuck her tongue out playfully. "I was just going to go down to the Cargo Bay to do my morning exercises."

"Considering that the elevator is the only way to get down there, you'd be dealing with some rather irate aliens if you headed down now."

Amala stared incredulously, "There's no other way to get downstairs? What if there's an emergency?"

"Maintenance shaft." said Julia, rolling her eyes. "Hey, don't look at me like that, I didn't design the ship!" Amala laughed at the slightly defensive tone in her voice.

"But morning exercises sounds like a good idea." Julia rose out fully from her bed, "If you don't mind me joining in, why not do it here?"

Amala pressed her hands behind the small of her back and shuffled her feet shyly, "Uh, sure."

"Give me a sec to change."

Julia's room was very spacious, even considering the fact that she was commander of the vessel, it seemed like a waste of room on a spaceship. Still, it was a boon in this case, as it meant that both girls had the space to work out without bumping into each other.

It was a little embarrassing with how intrigued Julia was when Amala started doing exercises with her tail, but she quickly got over it as she focused more and more on the workout. Amala had long since developed a smooth routine of progressing easily from light stretches to different martial forms to a light version of shadow boxing where she confronted an imaginary enemy.

 _Knife hand._

Her thumb pressed against her palm as her four claws pierced the space in front of her.

 _Throat ripper._

Rotating her hand horizontally, she slashed the air in front of her as if she was tearing out someone's throat.

 _Reverse Vollwicht_

Her tail smacked downwards and propelled her small body backwards. The enemy lunged forward, only to grasp empty air. Amala dashed forward, using her smaller height and forward momentum to disrupt his centre of gravity.

 _Solar Fist_

Her fist entered the gut of her enemy as he reeled back in pain, gasping for breath. Amala's tail slunk forwards and wrapped around his foot; yanking him down to the floor.

Regis' eyes looked up at Amala, dilating wide with fear as her foot stomped ruthlessly down on his neck.

 _"_ _Weren't we supposed to be friends...?"_

"Hah...hah..." Amala panted not out of exhaustion, but at what had just occurred in her own mind. She looked back over her shoulder to see Julia staring at her quietly with an expression she had never really seen on someone's face besides her family.

Sympathy.

Amala laughed to clear the air, "Guess I'm more out of shape than I thought, if I'm already winded."

Julia smiled, though her eyes remained thoughtful, "Guess so." Her eyes suddenly twinkled mischievously as she walked over to Amala. Before she could react, Amala was lifted up off the floor and summarily placed on Julia's shoulders.

"W-what are you doing?!" While Amala had never felt her mental age progress all that much, she was still old enough to feel mortified at the childish act.

"Earthlings like to call this a piggyback ride. I like to call it 'Showing off my cute new roommate to the crew who should all be in the mess hall by now'" laughed Julia, her hands clamping down hard on Amala's shins as she walked towards the door.

"This is embarrassing! Come on! Let me down!" whined Amala. Julia the Betrayer turned a deaf ear to her cries as she walked out into (according to Amala's ears) a rather full mess hall.

 _This is the last time I'm exercising with her!_

* * *

"Whoa."

Jeffrey "Joker" Moreau turned his head around at the sound of the young voice behind him. His eyes slightly widened as he took in the form of a young girl who looked like she was around ten years old; albeit one with cat ears.

Even when Julia had warned him about her unusual features, Jeff was still tempted to call shenanigans. She walked forward slowly and sat in the co-pilot's chair with her hands pressed to her sides. Jeff approved of the action in his head as it was clear that however entranced she was, she wasn't going to touch anything.

"Er. Hello." he said awkwardly. The girl seemed to be enraptured, however, by the sights outside the window. Currently they were progressing at sublight speeds through a rather clustered nebula. It wasn't anything too special in Jeff's opinion, but it was clearly something more for the girl.

"Uh...did you need something?" he raised his voice a bit louder, his eye twitching when he heard the badly concealed snorts of the comm officers. It seemed to break the spell on the girl however as she snapped out of her trance with a jerk.

"What? Oh! Sorry! Didn't mean to ignore you, I kind of got lost in thought..."

Jeff chuckled as his fingers danced lightly across the controls as he felt the _Normandy_ shift ever so slightly under his deft guidance.

"Understandable. First time out in space, everyone's jaw drops."

"If you're always flying through places like this, it's no wonder..." she said, trailing off.

Jeff scoffed, "This is nothing compared to some of the things out there."

"Have you been flying the _Normandy_ for very long?"

"Only for a few months, but I've been serving as a pilot for different ships in the Alliance for about 6 years."

"I've always wanted to fly my own ship." she said wistfully while staring enviously at Joker's hands, "What's it like?"

Jeff gave her a wide smile, "Best feeling in the world." emboldened by her widened eyes, Jeff continued, "Nothing compares to the knowledge that you're in control of something able to sail through the stars. Of being able to move a ship through some of the most dangerous and beautiful parts of the galaxy gives a guy like me an incredible sense of freedom."

"What made you want to become a pilot?" Jeff inwardly winced at the innocent question, which brought up old memories. Some of which were pretty painful.

Even as he hid his inner turmoil behind his usual cocky smile, it seemed that the damn kid was pretty perceptive as she quickly followed up with, "Sorry if I'm being so nosey."

"I'm Amala, by the way." she flushed as it seemed she had just remembered to introduce herself.

"Joker." laughed Jeff, glad for the sudden change in topic.

Her eyebrows quirked up, "Joker?"

"It's a nickname."

She rolled her eyes in a manner that reminded him so much of Hilary. "I got that, what's your actual name?"

"Nickname isn't enough for you?" he asked with a teasing smile.

"Some nicknames aren't very nice." replied Amala seriously.

Jeff sat in silence for a bit, mostly out of considering how to answer Amala rather than dealing with the small task of using a nearby planet's gravity well to get onto a more optimum flight path.

"It's Jeffrey. Jeff for short."

"Nice to meet you, Jeff." giving him a wide smile.

His lips quirked upwards almost unwillingly, "Nice to meet you too, Amala."

"Do you mind if I hang out here for a bit?"

"I don't know, I can be quite the chatty person I'm told." warned Jeff.

"That's okay, I'm very good at ignoring people."

"Hm? You say something? Wasn't really paying attention."

Amala rolled her eyes again, but Jeff could see a smile on her face, "Funny guy."

"Eh. It's a gift."

"Don't suppose I can return that gift."

"This store doesn't do returns." quipped Jeff.

"Darn." laughed Amala.

* * *

"Hey Ashley, is it okay if I borrow one of these crates?" The cute voice of Amala broke the mindless, yet soothing routine of cleaning out one of the rifles. Ashley's mind took a few seconds to catch up to what the girl had just asked.

"What do you need 'em for?" she asked curiously. She would've been suspicious if Wrex or Tali had asked for it, but Amala looked innocent enough.

"I just need a workspace to fix my form bracelet. If it's too much trouble, I can just do it on the floor." replied Amala, holding up a gorgeously designed bracelet that looked like it was made from sapphires. A large crack ran in the middle, almost splitting the entire piece of jewellery in two.

"Form bracelet?"

"Remember those crystals I was telling everyone about yesterday? The ones that make up the core of my treasure?" Ashley nodded and the girl continued, gesturing to the bracelet, "This is made out of those same materials. I need to repair it before I can activate it."

"Activate it? Is it a weapon of some kind?" Ashley's tone was becoming reprimanding.

Amala shook her head in the negative emphatically, "No! It's something that lets me change my shape. I figured there might be an occasion where I have to step off the _Normandy_ in a somewhat public area."

"And?" asked Ashley, not following.

"Well, I'm not sure about the culture here, but back home on Lozen, it would be a little strange to see a child walking off a warship."

Ashley's eyes filled with understanding, "Now I get it. But how much does this, er, form bracelet change you?"

"I made it with two forms in mind. Both adults, but one is human and the other a full Vollföldren."

Her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion, "Why not an adult version of yourself?"

Amala's expression faltered, "While humans aren't generally too bad with us, most Beastfolk have a pretty negative opinion of half's. Some of the older generation would even attack me on sight."

 _Bastards are lucky I wasn't there. Attacking a kid just because she looks a little different? Assholes would have trouble attacking her with holes in their heads._

She perked up, "That's why I like the atmosphere on the _Normandy_. Even with so many different species, I'm not seeing any discrimination."

Ashley coughed, an embarrassed flush started to color her cheeks, "W-ell, I wouldn't say there's _no_ discrimination. Humanity's still kind of new to the whole alien scene."

"You seemed to get along well enough back on Dorvega, though." pointed out Amala.

Ashley wanted to say that was just her being a professional when a previous talk with the Commander about aliens on the ship came to the forefront of her mind and halted those words on her tongue.

Instead she hurriedly changed the topic, "You, uh, still wanted to use those crates by the way?"

Judging by Amala's expression, Ashley knew that she knew that Ashley was trying to get off the subject. Amala smiled, "If it's too much trouble, it's okay."

"I was thinking that you might like to use a workbench instead." Ashley gestured to the table in front of her.

Amala's eyes widened as she waved her hands in front of her, "No, I couldn't possibly imp-"

Ashley grinned as she pressed a button on the side of the bench as an extra table shot out from the sides and extended the work area.

* * *

"Oh." said Amala, "If you're sure I won't disturb you-"

"You won't." reassured Ashley. The brunette gestured her to come over and Amala stopped beating around the bush and started dumping her forging materials onto the bench.

In her current possession, she had a total of fourteen Elucidan crystals; all of varying purity and size, two molding knives, a small chisel as well as various parts that could be assembled into a stand which could hold the bracelet.

Amala sensed the gaze of Ashley as she assembled her materials, "Oh, sorry. I'll try to work quieter." she said abashed.

"Actually, I was wondering if _you_ wouldn't mind if I watched you work for a bit."

Amala blinked, "It'll probably look kind of boring to you. The main repairs are things you won't be able to see."

"What do you mean by that, pyjak?" said a deep voice, just as Ashley was presumably about to ask the same question. The brunette's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing to Wrex.

Amala shrugged, "Unless you can concentrate Ki to your eyes, you won't be able to perceive the inner Formation. Even if you could, it could be very dangerous to look at, if you're not well prepared."

"It's dangerous just to look at it?" said Ashley, staring at the bracelet in question in evident disbelief.

"Formations are composed of different symbols and...figures that represent a ton of information. It'd be like if someone shoved a dozen different books in your mind and you were forced to comprehend it immediately. And that would be just _one_ symbol. Formations are made up of thousands upon thousands of symbols, so you wouldn't only be looking at one."

Ashley and Wrex traded a look with each other. "I'm guessing you've had something similar happen?"

Ashley looked away with an...ashamed expression for some reason as she explained, "I don't know about any symbols, but the Commander went through an event where a lot of information entered her mind all at once and it almost killed her."

Amala's eyes widened in shock, "When did this happen?"

"About a month before we found you, actually."

"But...she looks...she looks okay." Amala ran through all of her interactions with Julia back in her mind. "She is okay...right?"

Ashley grimaced, "I'm not sure. I've only know the Commander only a little while longer than you have."

"That's...damn. That's really incredible that she was able to survive something like that."

 _Hell, if she were back on Lozen, I'm sure Julia would be an incredible Formation Master!_

"She's definitely the toughest human I've ever met." inputted Wrex.

"On that, we can definitely agree on." said Ashley emphatically.

"Well...anyway. Like I said, it's not something that will be very interesting and I'm not sure how long it'll take." Amala continued in a quieter tone, "I tend to uh...zone out a lot if I'm really focused on something interesting and it'll look like that I'm just standing there staring into space for hours."

"Hours?" said Wrex.

"Maybe longer, depending on the damage. I'll have to see." shrugged Amala.

"I trust you won't mind showing us the final results, though?" asked Ashley.

It was a rhetorical question, but Amala smiled anyway. "Of course!"

The two nodded, but they still didn't move away; evidently wanting to watch at least the initial part of the forging process. Amala supposed that was fair, considering that she had to activate her Ki and that was somewhat flashy.

Amala reached out for that hidden, inner core of hers and expanded it outwards; delighting as the energy rushed through her body and expanded out into a small field around her.

"Ah, it really is warm!" exclaimed Ashley.

The noises of the _Normandy_ faded around her as Amala's 'sight' focused in on the form bracelet. A previously unseen golden glow now seemed to sparkle from within the jewelled interior; beckoning her to come inside. Amala heeded the unvoiced call as the light expanded and became almost blinding in nature.

Just as quickly as it had increased in luminosity, the glow faded so that it was not quite as bright. Amala was floating in a great sea of stars where the inky blackness of the space was repulsed by the thousands of symbols that filled the area. A pressure began to build in her mind as she comprehended the full scope of the bracelet's interior, figuring out what symbols were damaged or in some cases missing.

Amala's mind pulled back from the sea as the sounds of the _Normandy_ faded back in. Amala extended one delicate claw and concentrated her Ki onto the tip of it before pressing it onto the bracelet.

She was briefly aware of Ashley talking to what sounded like Tali.

"How long has she been standing there?" asked Tali

"About forty-five minutes now" replied Ashley with some concern, "Ah! She's moving now..."

Their voices faded into the background once more as Amala plunged into the symbol sea, working to repair the damaged symbols with glacial patience and infinite care. Formations could be incredibly dangerous if even one symbol was out of place and so they often took up a crazy amount of time in just preparation alone.

Luckily, there were only a few hundred symbols she had to deal with and only two master symbols. Otherwise, she doubted her Ki would've lasted as long as it did. Putting some last touches on her repairs, Amala withdrew from the inner space and gave a pleased sigh. This bracelet had taken up nearly a year's worth of Amala's time, but it kept a special place in her heart as the first treasure she had ever made.

Repairing it wouldn't take nearly as long, especially considering the damage wasn't as bad as she thought it was. In addition, considering Amala had made the bracelet herself, she knew all the ins and outs of the formations powering it.

"Back to the land of the living, I see." said a dual-toned voice with a chuckle.

Amala turned to see Garrus in the spot that Ashley was occupying previously putting together what appeared to be a sniper rifle.

"Where did...?"

"Chief Williams left to go grab dinner. You've been out for about five hours." answered Garrus.

"Only five hours? Huh, I'm getting better." Amala was pleasantly surprised (and a little smug) at how long it took for initial repairs.

Garrus laughed again, "You've got a funny way of looking at time."

"Helps if you have a lot of it." said Amala slyly.

Garrus fixed a mock stern glare at her, "Are you implying that I'm old, young lady?"

Amala placed a hand on her chest and looked at Garrus in shock, "Me? I would never be so rude to such an esteemed _elder_!"

"Would you like to join this old man for dinner then, young lady?"

Amala raised her eyebrows, "That just sounds _creepy_ when you put it like that."

Garrus gave a rueful laugh, "I know, I wanted to take it back as soon as I said it."

"Story of my life." muttered Amala.

They both shared a laugh as Amala waited for Garrus to finish up with his maintenance and they both headed upstairs.

* * *

Julia shouldn't have been surprised that Amala was ignoring her after the feline girl had been put on rather prominent display in front of what seemed to be half of the ship's crew. Still, it had gotten rid of that look in her eye.

The same look Julia had seen in Alex' after he had returned from Akuze.

If it kept Amala's mind off of whatever was scaring her, then Julia could handle the silent treatment. She was soon back to normal in the evening when she came up with Garrus to the mess hall.

"Well, look who finally decided to return back to the land of the living." drawled Julia. She was confused when Amala and Garrus looked at each other with surprised expressions before they both burst out laughing.

Garrus' eyes twinkled as he retrieved a dextro ratio for himself and a levo one for Amala. "Already used that line myself, Commander."

"Dammit Vakarian. Stop stealing all my lines." Julia smiled at the slight bounce in her step as Amala took her ration from Garrus and took a seat between Ashley and one of the Draven twins.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on her. I know babysitting isn't what you had in mind when you joined up." said Julia quietly.

"I didn't mind. I needed to do some calibrations on my sniper rifle anyway." shrugged Garrus.

Julia gave him a sly look, "The MAKO is all good to go, then?"

Garrus sighed, "Despite your best efforts to prevent me from doing so, yes, it is."

She gave him a wide smile, "Knew I kept you around for more than just your looks."

Garrus preened and Julia snickered silently to herself. "Finally realizing how devastatingly attractive I am, Shepard?"

"If by 'devastating', you mean the shock and horror our enemies have when they see your ugly ass, then yes. I've know that for a while." she said dryly.

"Such a harsh woman, you are. You planning on using that tongue to talk Saren down, too?"

Julia had to laugh at that ridiculous notion, "You never know."

* * *

"So what kind of culture do your people have, Tali?" asked Amala. She picked at her rations and tried not to concentrate on the taste as she shovelled it into her mouth.

"What brought on this sudden interest?" replied Tali. Though Amala was glad to see she didn't seem offended by the question.

"You're brilliant. You're cute. You're always positive and upbeat." said Amala listing off the girl's best attributes off the top of her head, "Just wondering what kind of place you grew up in to be so cool."

"Uh, well, um. Cute? No. I mean, really? Cool? Like temperature wise? The optimal temperature for an engine?" babbled Tali, seeming rather flustered with the question.

"I think you broke our quarian." laughed Jeff.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry! I didn't know I was asking about such an sensitive topic." Amala's face heated up with shame.

 _Nice work, idiot. Offend the nice alien girl by being an insensitive jerk!_

"We're keeping her, right?" interjected Caroline.

"Which one? Because I say we keep both of these cuties." chuckled Talitha, pressing her cheek against Amala's.

By this point, Tali appeared to have come back under control after she had finished reciting Pi to a few hundred places. "Don't apologize, Amala. I was just...I'm not exactly used to being complimented."

Well that was weird. From what she had gleaned from talking to other people, quarians were well known as tech geniuses. Shouldn't they be VIPs in a world dominated by tech?

Amala said as much to Tali, who sadly shook her head. "Quarians are looked down upon so much because we were responsible for creating the geth."

 _Oh. Well that would do it, then._

"Still. I'm guessing this wasn't a recent mistake either?" argued Amala.

"It happened nearly three hundred years ago." sighed Tali.

"Three hund-? And people are still giving you shit for it?!" said Amala hotly. "Fucking assholes." she muttered under her breath.

Tali put a calming hand over her own and Amala immediately became aware of how quiet it had gotten in the mess. "Sorry for getting so worked up." she mumbled.

"I don't mind at all. I'm actually a little glad that someone would get so angry like that for me. If you'd like, I can tell you all about my people after the meal."

Amala gave Tali a hesitant smile, "I'd like that."

"Would-" Ashley chose that moment to pipe up, an uneasy look in her face, "Would you mind if I listened in as well?"

"Count me in as well!" declared Julia. Though it seemed more like a petulant demand from the childish expression on her face.

"Y-You're all more than welcome to listen. Uh, but I don't know how interesting it'll be, still I'd be happy if you came..." said Tali, seeming a bit overwhelmed (and a little pleased, judging by the way her eyes seemed to widen in happiness)

"If today is quarian night, then I'm calling tomorrow for the krogans." said Wrex above the raising din.

"Then we definitely have to have Liara do her part as well." chimed in Julia.

"Where's the love for the turians?" complained Garrus.

"As if anyone wants to hear about how you all got that stick shoved up your collective asses." quipped Jeff.

"That stick is great for beating pilots, I hear." threatened Garrus.

"Now that I think about it, I've always wanted to learn more about Palaven." said Jeff hastily.

"I would love to hear more about Lozen. If you don't mind that is, Amala." said Tali.

"It's not exactly a happy place, though..."

"Not many places are unfortunately." admitted Tali, "But I'd like to hear about the happy places _you_ have there."

Amala grinned and cheerfully answered, "Sure!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Omega (1)**

It was mid-afternoon by the next day when Amala had finally completed her repairs on the form bracelet. When she had declared as such to Ashley with a wide smile, the latter had told her to wait before using it as she activated her omnitool and started typing something.

Before Amala knew it, she had an entire audience of what looked like to be a good chunk of the _Normandy's_ crew staring at her with a mix of warm smiles and undisguised eagerness. It was particularly embarrassing as she had borrowed some of Julia's clothes and probably looked pretty scrawny in the oversized clothes.

"Um...aren't there other things you need to be doing?..." she asked the crowd shyly.

"We can spare a few minutes for you, cutie!" called out Carol from within the crowd.

No pressure. While she was confident in her repairs, Amala was still feeling kind of nervous in front of a crowd of people. She glanced over towards Julia who was down in the Cargo Bay as well. She gave Amala an encouraging smile.

 _Right. Let's do this._

Amala stopped spinning the bracelet around on her index finger and allowed it to slip down to her hand as she activated her Ki. There was a chorus of "Oohs" and "Aahs" from the people who had never seen her do that before. She even heard exclamations of, "She's a biotic?!"

Once the bracelet was past her wrist, a minor trigger was activated and it reduced sharply in size so that it created a snug, but comfortable fit around her forearm. Amala mentally reached out to the trigger symbol for the human transformation within the formation and injected her Ki.

The bracelet flashed once before exploding with streamers of light that wrapped around Amala; encasing her within a cocoon-like structure as the familiar (if slightly painful) process of her transformation operated at a rapid pace.

* * *

Julia involuntarily let out a sound of surprise when Amala's bracelet put on the dazzling light show. She glanced out the corner of her eyes to see if anyone had noticed the minor slip in her persona and sighed in relief that their attention was on Amala.

With something that sounded like a very muffled shattering of glass, the cocoon broke apart to reveal a tall figure. Julia didn't both hiding her reaction, though it was mixed with the shocked cries from the rest of the crew as they beheld the young woman in front of them.

She was a tall willowy woman who looked to be in her mid-twenty's, with waist length black hair that cascaded down her shoulders. She had an aloof expression on her face mixed with a bit of pride, as if everything was beneath her. Her eyes were deep pools of shimmering blue rather than the prettier emerald green that Amala with a face that was more richly defined with high cheekbones and fuller lips. Pretty, but not overwhelmingly so. Her chest was still on the small side, but she had a very curvy waist coupled with long legs that moved with an almost careless grace.

If she strained herself, Julia could think that this woman looked like an older version of Amala, even though the demeanour she exuded was completely different.

"Finished gawking?" said Amala coolly. Even her voice was different; no longer high and sweet but quiet and domineering.

"Holy crap." exclaimed Ashley in the stunned silence.

Amala's face split wide open in that familiar grin as the tension faded from the crowd. "Pretty cool, right? Took me ages to get the voice just right."

The crowd of people slowly gathered around Amala and a figure shot out from within, "Ahhh, where did my little cutie go?" whined Caroline, who despite her complaints, embraced her anyway.

Julia chuckled as Amala's usual blush spread across her cheeks in response to the very affectionate navigation officer's typical actions.

"This is seriously incredible." muttered Tali, "You made this yourself? What other kinds of devices do you use on Lozen?"

"Pretty crafty, pyjak. You still smell the same, though." said Wrex, feigning disinterest.

Tali slapped him on the shoulder, "Don't tell a lady that she smells!" scolded Tali.

"Eh? Eh? What's this?" said a still-hugging Carol as she stroked the top of Amala's head. "I can still feel those super soft ears of yours!"

Julia was intrigued as she touched the side of Amala's human ears, only for her finger to pass through it like it was a hologram. Julia suppressed a laugh as Amala wriggled herself so that she was facing away from Carol who maintained her vice-like grip.

"Just a simple illusion. I didn't want to make any serious changes and mess up my tail." said Amala.

"So your tail is still – gah!" Julia yelped as she felt something slide across the top part of her arm. She glared at the very 'innocent'-looking Amala.

"Something wrong, Juli-ahhh, shtop! I'm shorry!"

Julia simply smiled as she pulled on the girl's cheeks, "Can't quite understand what you're saying!"

She released Amala's cheeks a second later and laughed as the girl pouted, rubbing her cheeks ruefully.

"How long can you use this...disguise?" asked Liara curiously.

"About half-a-day if I'm not using too much Ki." shrugged Amala.

"Using Ki? Shouldn't you be..." began Kaidan.

"Glowing purple?" She gave a mischievous little grin, "Nah. That only happens when I'm using a martial technique or when I'm dropping the disguise."

"So what did such a fine, upstanding young lady like yourself need such an elaborate disguise for?" drawled Garrus.

Amala's eyes narrowed with mock indignation at the implied slight. "Needed to join a school. Buuut, I also needed to hide my age. This seemed like a pretty good idea."

"How'd that work out for you?" asked Garrus.

"Not too bad." a shadow fell across her face, "For the most part, anyway." she added quietly. Whatever expression she had on her face was masked when a violet field of energy expanded out from her and a cocoon of light enveloped her; freeing her from Carol's grasp.

A minute later, Amala was back to her usual self, a cheeky smile on her face somewhat mitigated by the adorable sight of Julia's sleeves now being too long for her.

Julia clapped her hands, "Okay people. Show and tell is over. We reach Omega by O'six hundred tomorrow. I want final checks on all weapons and armour for all ground personnel. Quartermasters and staff sergeants, get a list of everything we need to stock up on while we're there. Anything you can think of, send me a report before the day is over for my review."

Julia noted with satisfaction as the crew dispersed back to their respective stations with a few (notably Carol) giving last minute hugs to Amala.

"Your disguise is certainly incredible, Amala. But I'd rather you stay on the ship when we hit Omega." said Julia seriously.

Amala looked slightly dissatisfied, but nodded anyway, "I know. I heard Omega was a pretty dangerous place."

Julia gave her a sad frown, "I know it's probably kind of stifling on the ship-"

"It's okay!" said Amala, perhaps a little too quickly. "You're already doing so much for me, when you don't even have to..."

"Yeah, but I _want_ to." said Julia fondly as she stroked Amala's soft hair gently. She was quickly beginning to view Amala as something like a little sister which was making her worried, confused and more than a little happy.

"Garrus and Wrex told me about the guy you're hunting. Saren, right?" Julia sighed, knowing where this was probably going.

"Amala, there's no _need_ to-"

"But I can help." she said earnestly, "I wouldn't be a burden and it's not like I'll be on the front lines. Even if you're worried about what others will think, I can just wear my disguise and people will just assume I'm another mercenary!"

"Saren is extremely _dangerous_."

"Tali and Liara are still helping you, though. And they're not even military." Amala continued to hastily evaluate herself, "If it's combat experience you're looking for I have plenty! I can prove it too-" she pointed to the memory crystals adorning her neck.

"I've even kil-" Amala cut herself off before Julia could as she looked down sadly at the floor, before looking at Julia once more with a determined gaze, "Eventually I'll return to Lozen and I know I'll be in situations far more dangerous than the one on Dorvega. I _have_ been in such situations."

She could feel the gazes of Ashley, Garrus and Wrex who were quietly observing the scene. Though at the moment, Julia could care less who was watching as she took Amala's hands in her own and cupped them, trying to give them as much warmth as she could.

"Would it be so bad to take a break from all of that, though?" The girl's lips briefly trembled before she stilled it, "To just live carefree, like a normal kid. Even if it's just for a little while?"

"I-I don't want to see any of you get hurt." choked Amala, "I've never had many friends. The ones that I did always either...left me...or-or-they ended up-"

Julia pulled the girl into a careful hug, allowing the smaller girl to bury her head in her chest. "Shhh, it's alright." soothed Julia as she ran her hand down Amala's back, "I'll be _fine_ , we'll all be _fine_."

Amala shivered in her embrace and Julia instinctively pulled her closer, not knowing whether or not she believed her words or not.

Julia could only hope that she did.

* * *

 _Well. You wanted to be treated like an adult and instead you almost broke down crying. Good job._

The mortifying act of talking to Julia yesterday was still fresh in Amala's mind as she moved through several martial stances. Amala was tempted to blame hormones for her fluctuating emotions ( _Damn you, estrogen!_ ), but she was still deeply terrified that she would lose another friend.

It's not like it would be the first time she gave up her life for someone else. Jamie Cole had done it, after all.

 _Focus! Just...focus on training. For now._

The ship had docked at Omega; a giant asteroid that had been hollowed out and reformed into a massive space station. From various crew member's descriptions, it was apparently the shithole of the galaxy, so Amala wasn't too upset about missing out on _that_ adventure.

For safety reasons, Julia had had Amala don her disguise for the duration that they were on the ship. When she felt as if she were about to lose control of her disguise, she was supposed to go to Julia's quarters and lock herself in until they were either ready to leave or she recovered her Ki. Amala figured she'd pass the time by using the extranet in that case or watching some old memories.

 _Because memories are the only thing I have left now._

Her punch halted midway, losing it's strength and flopped to her side uselessly. Amala looked around the empty Cargo Bay listlessly, wondering if these kinds of sights would be her norm from now on.

She slumped against a crate and sighed, wondering when the others would be back, so they could continue their journey. Find Saren to find Regis and hopefully find the rest of the teleportation treasure. Then somehow find a way to recreate whatever the hell happened that had sent her here in the first place.

Amala re-opened an article on her omnitool that she had found when Tali had show her how to access and use the extranet. It was a very old website dedicated to archiving news articles from Earth. One article of which was dated back to the year 2003 with the heading:

" _TRAGEDY IN RICHMONT HIGH"_

 _"_ _It was a dark day for the people of Santeen City when two students, whose names have been withheld from the public, walked into the front doors of their schools wielding assault rifles._

 _'I thought they were just props, you know? I didn't think they were actually real.' said one student._

 _Horror soon enveloped the students of Richmont as it became all too apparent of the threat of these two boys who proceeded to open fire upon the students. Panic set in almost instantaneously as three students and one teacher were fatally wounded while countless others were injured._

 _But this incident proved to give rise to a hero as one Jamie Cole (age 14) bravely charged forward and managed to disable both gunmen while sustaining multiple bullet wounds to his person. Other students and teachers soon rushed forward and helped young Jamie to disarm the two boys, but unfortunately the wounds he had suffered would prove fatal._

 _Jamie Cole died a hero and one can only hope that he got the rest he deserved._

 _'He was a quiet kid, you know? Kept to himself mostly, didn't really talk too much. He saved my life though and I'll never be able to thank him for it..."_ _ **For more, continue reading on page 6.**_

They had used a rather unflattering photo of him in the newspaper, but considering the few that he had ever taken, that was probably the most recent one they could find. Still, the face that Amala saw in the omnitool's display was unmistakable.

It certainly helped to explain why she had been transported here, though she wasn't sure if she could do anything with this information besides giving pretty good evidence of reincarnation.

Amala closed the article and wiped her search history after fiddling around with the settings. She got up and brushed the dust off her pants and moved back into a crouch, her fists raised up in front of her.

 _It's time to move forward._

* * *

"Don't. Fuck. With. Aria." The old asari settled back onto the couch with a small smile framing her lips.

Julia inwardly rolled her eyes as she leaned forward on the couch, "I like it. Easy to remember." she quipped.

"Good. If you forget, someone will be sure to remind you." said Aria in a bored voice.

 _Ooh, that's a good line._

"And then I throw you out the nearest airlock." sneered the batarian guard.

"aaaannd it's ruined." sighed Julia. Aria looked equally annoyed at her guard's attempt to being threatening.

"So, what brings the first human spectre to my station?" Aria stared disinterestedly towards a corner of Afterlife.

"Information on a certain rogue spectre." said Julia, not bothering to beat around the bush, "I heard that Saren recently paid a visit to Omega."

"Your sources are certainly up to date." She turned to look at Julia in the eye, "But why should I tell _you_ anything?"

Julia leaned back casually and folded her hand across her stomach, "One small piece of information telling me where he's going earns _you_ the good will of a spectre."

Aria smirked, "And if I say I'm not interested?"

Julia gave her a sweet smile, "I take my time tearing apart Omega until I find what I'm looking for anyway."

Aria's eyes narrowed, "Your threats could use a little work, Shepard."

"Hey, all I'm saying is that the second option wastes both of our time while the first option is a win-win scenario." placated Julia, her eyes never leaving Aria's. "I might even throw in a free back massage coupon."

The asari's mouth quirked up with faint amusement and her eyes seemed to betray a faint hint of desire. Julia knew early on in her career that she had a weird effect on asari; something that she was happy was working in her favour.

"He went into Blood Pack territory in Sector 8. Talked to their boss Garm about something and then left with a ship along with a dozen krogan mercs."

 _He's recruiting mercs? Krogan mercs? How the hell did he pull that off?_

Wrex seemed to agree with her unspoken thoughts, "That can't be right, Shepard. I've met with Garm before and he absolutely despises turians. He would never work with one, let alone a piece of varren shit like _Saren_."

Julia turned back to Aria, "Care to add anything, Aria?"

A contemptuous look flashed across the asari's face as she brought up her omni-tool and started to play what looked to be a video log taken from a security camera. On the silent recording the distinct figure of Saren could be seen talking to a rather large krogan.

"That Garm, Wrex?' asked Julia in an aside.

"Yeah. That's him." rumbled Wrex.

There was a lot of posturing on Garm's part as several of his men and himself held Saren at gunpoint. The rogue spectre stood there as cool as ice however and continued to speak, raising his own omni-tool as he appeared to transfer something to the Blood Pack leader. The krogan's eyes seemed to widen in shock as he barked something to his subordinates, showing them whatever was on his omni-tool. Guns were lowered and Garm and Saren walked off camera together.

"Is Garm still on the station?" asked Julia, turning to Aria.

"As far as I know, he still is. That could change at any moment the more time you waste." there was a clear dismissal in her tone.

Julia figured that Aria knew the actual name of the ship but was only willing to help her so far. She assumed that this was part of some kind of test. Or she was just being a bitch.

Still, Julia knew when to be grateful, "Thanks for your help."

Aria nodded and turned back to gazing out towards the patrons of the club. _Surveying her kingdom_.

As they made their way out of the club, Kaidan commented, "Well that was pretty easy."

"A little too easy." said Garrus in a worried tone.

"Not many people can resist the allure of a coupon." admitted Julia.

Ashley snorted, "Something tells me she was looking for _more_ than just a massage, Commander."

Julia sighed theatrically, "Ah, sometimes it's so hard being so beautiful. Ladies just can't resist me." she looked slyly towards Garrus, "A problem I'm sure you don't have, Garrus."

Garrus laughed and placed his talons over his armour, "You wound me, Shepard. I'll have you know I'm considered to be quite the dashing specimen."

"Compared to a vorcha, maybe." quipped Wrex.

"Don't be so hard on him, Wrex. Considering the way Aria's turian bodyguard was eyeing him up, he's probably telling the truth." chirped Ashley, a wicked gleam in her eyes. "He was practically licking him all over with his eyes."

Garrus recoiled in shock and visibly shuddered, "Thanks for the image, Chief. Now I'm going to have nightmares for weeks."

Julia and the rest of her crew laughed and looked over her shoulder back at Wrex. "What can you tell me about the Blood Pack, Wrex?"

"One of the top three merc bands in the Terminus Systems. They're filled with exclusively krogan and vorcha, with the latter being cannon fodder." replied Wrex.

"And Garm?"

"An annoying bastard who keeps trying to get me to join his band."

Julia gave a low whistle, "I didn't know you were so popular, Wrex."

Wrex grinned, "You don't know how lucky you are that I'm helping you out for free, Shepard."

"Free?" scoffed Julia, "I wouldn't say you're free considering how much it's costing me to pay for your meals." Julia frowned and amended her statement, "Well, how much it's costing the _Alliance_ , anyway. Which is kind of a bonus."

Ashley and Kaidan both snorted. Garrus looked at the three of them curiously, "You seem rather happy about that inconvenience for your military, Shepard."

"Don't get me wrong, I love the Alliance. But I despise how cheap they can be sometimes."

"Well that certainly explains why you and your fellow marines are so cavalier about all the looting." muttered Garrus loudly, prompting another bout of laughter from the group.

"All jokes aside, Wrex, could you take point on talking to Garm?"

Wrex nodded his assent, "Probably for the best, Shepard. Garm doesn't have a problem with humans, but he's not fond of them either."

"Pardon me Commander, but should Garrus be coming along with us then?" asked Ashley.

Julia frowned, her mind initially going to the Chief's slightly xenophobic nature (although that had greatly lessened after their talk and with Amala's presence). Then she realized that it was a valid point. "Garrus, head on back to the _Normandy_. I doubt the Blood Pack will be quite so welcoming with another turian."

Garrus shifted uneasily, "You sure, Shepard? What if you run into trouble?"

Julia smiled, "Please, Garrus. It's _me_. What could _possibly_ go wrong?"

* * *

"Ah, Amala. There you are!" A tall, heavily built man with black hair and blue eyes called out to Amala when she had left the showers. His name was Marcus Grieco and he was one of the staff sergeants working with the quartermaster for the _Normandy_.

"Hey, Marcus. Need something?" It was a novel experience to not have such a huge size difference between the two of them. Marcus was a big guy who stood around Garrus' height, but was always very soft-spoken with other people that Amala wouldn't have believed he was in the military.

Marcus gave an embarrassed smile, "I was hoping for your help moving some crates in. Cargo Bay trolleys are busted at the moment and we need some extra muscle."

Amala gave him a grin, "So you figured you might as well use some child labour?"

Marcus sputtered as another voice laughed. The wiry form of Raymond Tanaka walked around the corner, "That was the plan, yes. We tried ringing your omnitool earlier, everything working okay with the model I gave you?"

Amala's eyes widened in surprise as she checked her omni-tool. Sure enough, three missed notifications were displayed on the screen. "Oh, I guess I must have gotten these while I was in the shower. Sorry about that!"

"No worries, no worries." Raymond grinned, waving her concerns away, "Pro tip, though. Those things are water-proof."

"Good to know." said Amala, grinning back. "How many crates do we need to move?"

Marcus finally recovered at that point as they called up the elevator, "Quite a few." admitted Marcus, "Commander wants us well stocked up on provisions. Adams and a few of the other engineers needed a bunch of other parts for repairs."

"Repairs?"

"Normandy was commissioned pretty fast for it's first mission so it's still in a bit of an unfinished state." said Raymond, taking over for the explanation. "Pretty good for flying missions. But 'pretty good' won't settle for the first human spectre."

"Or Adams." piped in Marcus.

"Or Adams." agreed Raymond with a laugh.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal a mostly empty Cargo Bay with the back doors opened slightly with two crew members at the entrance. A stack of crates sat on the back of a vehicle that had smoke coming out of it. It's owner, a turian, was currently knelt down next to it with a box of tools at his side.

A thought occurred to Amala, "Uh, won't it look kind of strange if a single human woman is carrying those crates?"

"No need to worry, we'll be pretending to help you with the crate." said Raymond smoothly.

"Only pretending, huh?" Raymond merely gave her a cheeky grin in response.

"Careful with the teasing there," Marcus wore a bemused smile, "Or she might _accidentally_ drop her side of the crate."

"I would never do that!" said Amala indignantly, "I wouldn't try and stage an accident. I would just go ahead and drop it on you, little man."

"Little man? I swear, a girl gets some magical bullshit to make her taller and she thinks she can pick on everyone smaller than her." said Raymond ruefully.

They were still chuckling when they moved past the Cargo Bay doors and stepped onto the surface of Omega. Amala nearly gagged as a particularly rotten smell wafted towards their general direction. Marcus and Raymond did slightly better, though they both looked quite green.

The turian whom Amala supposed was handling their deliveries looked up from his work at them and chuckled. "First time on Omega, then?"

"That obvious?" said Amala, taking careful, shallow breaths.

"Pretty typical reaction for first-timers. And second-timers. By the fifth time a smell wave hits you, it's not so bad."

"Don't turians have very keen senses?"

The turian grimaced, "Yeah. First few months here were hell." He stood up and offered a taloned hand to them and introduced himself. "The name's Lantar Sidonis. Welcome to the galaxy's biggest shithole."

* * *

"When we get back to the _Normandy_ , no one is to breathe a _single_ word of this to Garrus!" shouted Julia over the raucous gunfire.

Like most of her missions which quickly went to hell, everything had started off innocently enough. They had landed just outside of Blood Pack territory and proceeded to make their way to the heart of it. Julia was pretty sure she was in the crappiest part of Omega considering just how run down the area seemed to be. Though considering the crude but large barricades erected around the slums, the Blood Pack seemed to be fairly well dug in.

Julia almost broke out in a fit of very "Un-Commander'ish" giggles when two vorcha stopped their party at the gate.

"Humans!" screeched the vorcha, "You are not welcome here! This Blood Pack territory! Go away or we fill you with many holes until you dead!"

The vorcha guard seemed very proud of himself as Julia stuttered her words trying not to laugh, which probably made it seem like she was scared of him. Finally she had managed to convey that she was with Wrex who wanted to talk to Garm.

The guards had radioed ahead and got the all-clear from the boss himself, who seemed to be inordinately pleased that Wrex had showed up. Julia had started to wonder if Wrex had a special place in krogan society, but considering the situation and the place, she resolved to ask him once they were back within the much safer confines of the ship.

The two had begun to converse more once Julia had persisted in getting him to retell some of his own personal history, including his tragic tale at being betrayed by his own father. Wrex had even begun to start his own conversations with her after they had retrieved his family armour.

When they had finally arrived at the Blood Pack's base, Julia was taken by surprised by the very enthusiastic greeting that Garm had given them. The Blood Pack leader was about the same size as Wrex, but with no obvious scars that she could see with a blood-red head plate and matching armour.

They were within a small building, one of the few that was completely intact within the area and one that was only filled with krogan. A few of them eyed Julia and the rest of the humans suspiciously, but otherwise they didn't say anything as Garm continued his happy little reunion with Wrex.

"Haha! Wrex! Urdnot Wrex!" laughed Garm boisterously, "I never thought you would actually come! Hah!" he slapped the side of Wrex's shoulder hard.

Wrex, not being one to beat around the bush, interrupted Garm's jubilant manner. "I'm just here for business, Garm. It's not what you think."

Surprisingly, Garm's mood didn't damper in the slightest and he only continued to grin. "I think you'll change your mind once you hear what I just discovered! Information given to me by a-"

"Turian?" interjected Wrex.

Garm paused, disturbed by this knowledge. "How did you?" His eyes widened as he gave an angry roar. "Aria!"

He turned towards one of his lieutenants who was currently trying to leave the building, only to be sucked back into the room by Garm. A biotic aura surrounded the Blood Pack leader as his lieutenant dangled helplessly in front of him.

"Something you want to explain, Jarek?" hissed Garm dangerously.

"It's-it's not what you think-" Jarek tried to explain himself as he was headbutted viciously into the ground.

"Not what I _think_?" laughed Garm darkly, "What I _know_ is that you are the only person in charge of security here. What I _know_ is that you were the one who installed cameras throughout the compound!"

Jarek lay moaning on the ground, a small crack had appeared on his headplate and was oozing bright red blood.

"It wasn't only...me. Loreg helped me out as well." said Jarek weakly.

"Oh I _know_." snarled Garm before turning to two other krogan guards in the room, "Get this bastard locked up and find Loreg as well. I'll deal with them later."

Garm gave a frustrated sigh before turning back to Wrex, not nearly as chipper as he was before. "So you know about this turian, then." It wasn't a question.

"Yes. I'm hunting him with her." Wrex jerked a finger over to Julia. Garm finally acknowledged the three humans' presence within the room as he gave them a critical eye.

"Hmph. Not bad for humans, I suppose. What's your take in this?" Garm addressed Julia directly.

"I'm Commander Shepard and I'm on the hunt for a turian by the name of Saren Arterius who's wanted for his attack on Eden Prime."

"Huh. Didn't know they made humans spectres." said Garm. "This doesn't change anything, though. Saren's given the krogan something too valuable for me to reject."

Wrex snorted, "What could a _turian_ have given you, that was so important that you _didn't_ mount his skull?"

Garm gave them a tight, evil grin. "A cure...for the genophage."

Julia and the rest sucked in a breath simultaneously while Wrex harshly counteracted Garm's claims. "Impossible."

"See for yourself." said Garm imperiously.

Their omni-tools flashed with a warning of incoming data and after doing a scrub for any viruses and the like, large amounts of medical data, videos and images popped up one after another.

"This is how he convinced you?" sneered Wrex. "I didn't realize you had become a scientist."

"Watch your tone, old man." growled Garm, "I had this data verified by my own sources AND I went to Saren's research facility myself."

Garm seemed to withdraw into himself as his voice became quieter, "I saw our people Wrex. I saw them being finally righted of the wrong done to us by the turians and the salarians."

"Wrex...talk to me." said Julia quietly. She gave a subtle signal towards Ashley and Kaidan for them to get ready for shit to hit the fan.

"What if he's telling the truth, Shepard." asked Wrex quietly.

"He's not." said Julia. What she had come to know of Saren was that the man was utterly ruthless. There was some kind of catch here, there had to be.

"How do you know? This is the fate of my entire people!"

"It's _Saren_ , Wrex! You, yourself even said he was bad news! That's why you got off that transport that day and _that's_ why you weren't killed like the rest of those people."

"We don't even know _what_ Saren is doing, Shepard!" shouted Wrex, drawing his shotgun and levelling it towards her. Julia was just as quick on the draw as the rest of the people in the building all drew their weapons. They were badly outgunned, but right now Julia was more focused on talking her friend down.

"Help me out here, Shepard. Because from where I'm standing, the lines between friend and foe are becoming very blurry." There was a question in Wrex's eyes, a look that almost pleaded with Julia to convince him that they were doing the right thing.

"Saren is _using_ the krogan just like he is _using_ the geth. I don't know what he's planning, but I _do_ know that he will end up using the krogan as tools just like the Council once did in the Rachni Wars!"

"What do you know, human?!" shouted Garm, "You have not had to watch the mothers of our people wander out into the wastes of Tuchanka to die because they were found to be infertile!"

Julia kept her eyes on Wrex throughout Garm's tirade. "Wrex, I promise you, we will find out what Saren is up to and _if_ there is a cure for the genophage, we will take it for ourselves!"

The entire room went quiet as Julia felt all eyes redouble their intensity on her. The strongest of which was Wrex', whose yellow eyes searched Julia with an unblinking gaze.

Finally, the scarred battlemaster said: "I trust you...Julia."

Relief washed through Julia at these four simple words while white-hot rage seemed to suffuse Garm's entire person. "You would trust this... _human_ , over me?!"

"This human has done more for me than my family ever has." growled Wrex, "Hand over the name of Saren's ship, Garm."

"I misjudged you old man." spat Garm. "You would doom our entire race by relying on a single human."

"And you would sell ours to a turian!" snapped Wrex. His eyes glittered dangerously, "Now are you going to hand over that data quietly or-"

Wrex suddenly charged towards Garm who was caught off guard waiting for Wrex to finish his sentence. Julia expanded a barrier over her squad as soon as Wrex had moved into action.

"Kaidan, overload on our left. Ashley help take it down!" shouted out Julia as she rushed towards a krogan on their right side who had already fired off his shotgun. Drawing her pistol, Julia relied on her shields to take another hit as her body became suffused with biotic power.

Julia timed her hit as her mass increased exponentially from her biotics as she shoved her pistol into the roof of the krogan's mouth and fired again and again. His crest exploded in a bloody shower, but Julia had already ducked behind the krogan's massive body, using him as a meatshield as the remaining krogan guards opened fire on her.

"Kaidan! Seal off the doors!" Their firefight would undoubtedly draw more guards and Julia already knew they would have their hands full with just the ones in here. There were four krogan guards still up and remaining, with three of them opting to charge towards Julia who was taking potshots at them. Their blood rage had kicked in as they homed in on Julia who presented a bigger threat.

She was dead if she got sandwiched between any of them, but it took the pressure off of Kaidan and Ashley who went to go secure the entrance. Now Julia just had to play a game of cat-and-mouse with the hulking aliens until she could get backup.

Off to the corner of the room, Wrex and Garm were having a titanic struggle with each other as both krogans strove to secure a dominant position over the other. Their weapons had been lost in the struggle some time ago and they were now both encased in biotic auras. The room seemed to tremble, each time one of them was slammed into a wall.

"RAAHHHH!" cried one of the krogans, the shotgun in his hand rapidly firing and reducing her meat shield into a pulpy mess. Julia strained her biotic talents to the limit, opting to make herself lighter and faster as she weaved between the furious krogans, firing her pistol haphazardly.

"Don't suppose-ah, fuck! - you two could speed it up – gah! - a bit?!" shouted Julia. There were a few crates in the room that Julia was making use of to impede the krogans, who were charging _through_ them with barely a drop in their speed.

Julia was just about to say 'fuck it' and use one of her grenades when one of the krogans stumbled as Ashley peppered his back with her his assault rifle. Another became encased in a biotic stasis field launched by Kaidan, temporarily taking him out of combat.

Julia roared as she fired off a warp at the remaining krogan charging towards her, causing him to stumble. Dashing past him, Julia took advantage of his displaced centre of gravity pushed him to the ground as he fell on his stomach. Ashley was bleeding in several places and she had a very noticeable limp as she backed away from the regenerating krogan.

The krogan who's flank was exposed wide open to Julia.

A feral grin splashed across her face as she fired practically point-blank at the back of the krogan's knees. He howled in pain and frustration as bullets penetrated his flesh and caused him to unwillingly drop to the ground on all fours. Ashley and Julia summarily finished him off before turning to do the same to the krogan whom Julia had knocked down.

Kaidan released the stasis field once he saw that there was only Garm and one other krogan left as all three Alliance marines opened fire on the remaining guard. Julia turned to assist Wrex, only for her pistol to fall to her side as Garm was blasted across the room and hit the wall hard enough to leave an impression on it's metal surface.

He groaned and struggled to get back to his feet only to meet Wrex' foot on the underside of his chin. Garm's limbs were in various states of dismemberment, though his regeneration capabilities seemed to be on a whole other level compared to other krogan as his were already starting to rapidly heal.

Not quickly enough however. Garm stared defiantly at the end of Wrex' shotgun, "You don't know what you're do-"

His words were cut off as Wrex pulled the trigger.

 _ **BANG!**_

Wrex fired off another shot.

 _ **BANG!**_

Garm's head exploded in a gory shower of blood, bone and brain matter that sizzled when they hit the ground. Wrex stared solemnly down towards his defeated foe before shaking his head in disgust. He knelt down and removed Garm's omni-tool before tossing it over to Julia.

"Should have everything you need on there." said Wrex, "If not, there's probably a terminal here that we can datamine."

"Thank you, Wrex." said Julia simply.

Wrex nodded, "You're welcome, Shepard."

It was a powerful moment between her and Wrex. One that spoke volumes of the trust the grizzled merc had in Julia. Of course, that was when all of their attention was directed towards the door where a slew of orange sparks flew out from the midline of the door.

"Perfect." grumbled Julia.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – Omega (II)**

Jakar stared intently at the building in front of him, his shotgun held casually in his hands. Two other krogan stood next to him as they watched the next wave of many Blood Pack mercs to attempt to enter the house. While the loss of their leader was shocking enough, the continued persistence and lethality of the invaders continued to astound Jakar.

Even more surprising was that only one of these bastards was krogan.

Jakar had a good laugh with his friend when he saw the scarred battlemaster leading three armed humans into the compound. They had both agreed that the aliens looked like children using their parent's weapons. Two of them were even _female_! Which were as squishy as asari but not nearly as potent in terms of biotics

It only took a few dozen mercs to be brutally gunned down by these humans for Jakar to hastily re-evaluate his opinion.

Despite what others may think of the krogan, they were not as stupid and disorganized as many aliens would believe. The Blood Pack in particular was very clear about who was next in line in terms of leadership, though Jakar had to admit that this was something enforced upon by Garm.

"They're putting up quite a fight." commented Ralek mildly.

"Definitely got a quad, that's for sure." agreed Bovel.

"They won't last much longer. Far more of us than there is of them." As if the aliens were illustrating his point, another set of vorcha replaced the ones who were gunned down before reaching the sealed door.

"What's the status on the breaching charge?" asked Jakar.

"Should be coming in with the next group." said Ralek pointing towards a squad filled with mostly krogan.

"Good. My plates were starting to get itchy from all this standing around." grinned Jakar. His two subordinates gave matching grins as they all eagerly awaited the scene of carnage and the no doubt glorious battle with the invaders waiting for them.

While the vorcha kept them distracted, the infiltrator team set up a makeshift cover that was fashioned together using old steel beams. It would protect them from the worst of the bulletstorm as they charged towards the building.

Jakar hefted the end of the beam easily, his shotgun temporarily stored in it's holster for now as he took point. He could hear that the bullets had more or less stopped, which either meant they were out of ammo or they were saving it all up for a blitz.

"Right then. Let's show these bastards what it means to mess with the Blood Pack!" shouted Jakar.

""RAHHHHH!"" roared the other krogans.

"CHARGE!"

Twelve krogan all dashed forwards as quickly as their legs would carry them, all on the brink of triggering their blood rage. It wouldn't do to lose themselves in the sweet fire of battle-madness.

Not yet, anyway.

Bullets struck the surface of their cover, with a few expert shots managing to target their legs in an attempt to halt their charge. A wise strategy, considering that HQ was located in the middle of an artificial clearing which would force enemies to trudge towards it without any cover.

However, such wounds meant nothing, considering that the krogan on point were the ones with the best regeneration of the group and outfitted correspondingly.

Never let it be said that krogan were mindless brutes.

"CLEAR!" shouted one merc. As one, they divested themselves of their cover and tossed it to the side, with weapons pointed towards the windows as they scanned for movement. Meanwhile, one of the handier members of the pack darted forward and placed several breaching charges on the door.

"Charges set!" he called out.

"Get ready!" barked Jakar. His fellow pack members took up positions along either side of the door as Jakar nodded to their explosives expert.

"BREACH!"

 _ **BOOM!**_

The metal door crumpled inwards from the force of the explosion, pieces of shrapnel and debris cutting into the flesh of the nearest krogan. In this case, such wounds would prove a boon as the way into the pyjak's den was now open and their blood rage was free to let loose.

"KILL!"

One word soon became a chant that then devolved into a guttural roar as each of the krogans flooded into the room. Their vision was dyed crimson as they searched for their foes with whose blood they would water the ground.

Jakar had a brief moment where he came out of his blood-rage to see that the only thing in the room was a contraption with several grenades and other explosive tech cobbled together.

* * *

"Damn, Commander. Didn't know you were an explosives expert." complimented Ashley. They were in another building watching the Blood Pack headquarters erupt into a glorious fireball that expanded outwards and set any nearby mercs ablaze.

Julia shrugged modestly. "Helps if you have a photographic memory and you're really fucking bored."

Wrex gave a quiet chuckle that shook his entire frame. He clapped a hand on Julia's shoulder fondly, "I've always thought that you humans were just squishier krogan."

Julia smiled at the grizzled mercenary, "Thanks. It's always nice to be thought of as a large, ugly reptile."

They all laughed as they watched more and more Blood Pack mercs move towards the headquarters and away from their current position. Julia wanted to wait a bit longer before heading out, however. There was not many mercs in their area which gave more evidence to the fact that only Garm and perhaps a few others knew about the escape tunnel built into his headquarters.

"How's the leg feeling, Ash?"

"Better, Commander. Medi-gel's one hell of a drug." smirked Ashley, looking much less pained.

"Make sure you see Chakwas when we get back, or there's no telling what kind of hell she'll rain down on you." said Kaidan.

"Why, lieutenant. I had no idea you cared so much about me." said Ashley with a simpering expression.

Kaidan blushed a bit and muttered softly, "Well, I do..."

Ashley and Julia traded knowing grins with each other at the suddenly shy lieutenant while Wrex just rolled his eyes. Julia took a careful glance out the window and nodded.

"Not everyone's gone yet, but this is going to have to be good enough."

They had already scouted out the building and apart from two vorcha who were currently sleeping in their own blood (likely without knowing what kind of place they were in), it was clear. Two entrances; front and back. Three if you counted a room where one section of the wall had caved in.

Right now, Julia and her merry band of intrepid adventurers were stealthily creeping towards the back entrance. There was enough cover between their current position and the place where they'd left the skycar without attracting too much attention.

Still, it was always better to err on the side of caution.

Using hand signals (Julia was glad she had drilled all of her non-Alliance crew members on these gestures), she moved her squad slowly between buildings. Occasionally they'd run into the odd pack of vorcha who were scavenging through the area and hissing in distaste at each other. In all cases, they had managed to take their foes down quietly.

The only real scary moment was when they had almost got caught by a returning patrol of krogan, who were no doubt called in after their little scuffle with Garm and his cronies.

Julia had had enough experience through both Mindoir and her time as an N7 operative to know when the Universe was setting her up for one big practical joke. It was almost relieving when that time came when they were creeping up as usual on one of the last groups of vorcha, when all of their omni-tools went off at the same time.

She had made sure everyone's omni-tools had been set to silent, but the brief simultaneous flare of light alerted the all-too adaptable vorcha to their presence.

Worse still was that this was one of the groups of vorcha who came both armed with traditional firearms _and_ actual fire.

"Hssst! Intruders! You will burn!" screeched the pyro, pulling the trigger on his gun which spewed a great gout of flame at them.

 _Fucking hell!_

They all ducked behind the wall and started firing as the vorcha reached for their own weapons. Julia blasted the group off their feet with a shockwave and planted two bullets square in the middle of the pyro's tanks.

There was a small explosion as the remaining vorcha were set ablaze themselves and died howling in pain as the flames consumed their flesh.

"What was that?!" came a voice.

"They're over here!" shouted another.

"God dammit!" spat Julia, colouring the air with bullets as well as a few more choice swears, as she looked at her omni-tool to see what had happened.

Just as Julia was about to let loose a flurry of expletives towards the sender of the message, her face paled as she decoded the message.

"Commander?" asked Ashley worriedly.

"We need to move, _now_!" barked Julia.

* * *

"Well, well, well. Look who got kicked out of the club." said Amala cheekily.

Garrus huffed as he trotted up to the curious sight of Amala and two other marines hauling crates into the _Normandy's_ cargo bay. "Not my fault they couldn't handle all of _this_." retorted Garrus, gesturing to his entire person.

Amala rolled her eyes, "Riiiight. Does the big strong turian want to help moving some of these boxes, then?"

"Only if the little girl admits she needs help."

"Don't push it, _old man_." threatened Amala.

"Huh, you definitely weren't joking about an odd ship." said Lantar, rising from his crouched position near the truck. Tali, who had taken pity on Lantar and decided to help him with his repairs, stood up and stretched her back with an appreciative sigh.

"Well our Captain isn't exactly ordinary." chuckled Tali.

"Technically, she's still only a Commander." noted Marcus mildly.

"She's in charge of the ship, though. That makes her a Captain." said Tali authoritatively.

Garrus chuckled and introduced himself to Lantar, the two of them giving what Amala assumed was the turian equivalent of a handshake. While Lantar and Tali went back to fixing the truck, Garrus made his way over to Amala and started "helping" her with a crate.

"So what have you kids been up to?" asked Garrus dryly. "Staying out of trouble while Mom and Dad were gone?"

"Is Julia meant to be the mom in this weird analogy?" said Amala.

"Nah, she's the Dad. Kaidan is the Mom." deadpanned Garrus.

Amala snorted and almost dropped the crate on Garrus as she struggled to contain her laughter. "You better make sure she doesn't hear you say that." warned Amala teasingly.

"I'll make sure to hide behind you." said Garrus smoothly, "She can't stay mad at that pouty face of yours."

On cue, Amala immediately started to pout which got some easy laughs out of Marcus and Raymond who were bringing in other cargo.

"Helping out with moving, I guess." answered Amala. "How'd everything go with you?"

The two walked side by side as they chatted and Amala was happy to see that there was no more cargo to move (that didn't exclusively require machines, that is).

"Met the queen of Omega who told us to go talk to the Blood Pack." said Garrus nonchalantly.

"You met Aria?" asked Lantar with evident disbelief.

"Well, Shepard did. I mostly just stood there and looked intimidating." preened Garrus.

"The Blood Pack is the strongest merc group on Omega, right?" cut in Amala, sensing that Garrus was about to go off on another tangent, but she was also genuinely curious.

"That's not quite accurate." said Lantar. His omni-tool came to life as he ran some diagnostics on the vehicle. "There are lots of different merc groups on Omega, but the three major ones are Eclipse, The Blue Suns and The Blood Pack."

"These three more or less maintain power with each other and generally make station resident's lives hell." said Lantar darkly.

"Which group is Aria part of?" asked Amala.

"Neither. She's the odd one who somehow manages to keep everything together without all-out war breaking out." Lantar added almost unwillingly, "I'm no fan of Aria, but things would definitely be worse if she wasn't here."

Amala wrinkled her nose distastefully as she looked over the "skyline" of Omega. "Not much of a kingdom to rule, though."

"That's putting it mildly." sighed Lantar.

"If you don't mind me asking...why did you come here?" said Amala cautiously.

"Same reason that most people end up here, I guess. Bad decisions and bad luck." His eyes took on a more gentle look however, "I met my bondmate here though. So I'm grateful for that."

"Bondmate?" she turned towards Garrus with an evident question in her eyes.

"It's like a wife in human terms." explained Garrus.

Lantar chuckled, "Surprisingly she likes to be called as my bondmate though."

Garrus cocked his head in confusion as Lantar shifted uneasily in place, evidently saying something he shouldn't have.

"My bondmate, Grace is...a human."

"Oh." said Garrus finally after an uneasy silence.

"Bosh'tet." chided Tali off to the side. Garrus looked between Amala, Marcus and Raymond who had scowls on their faces.

Garrus waved his hands in front of his face hastily, "No, no! It's not like I have a problem with it! I mean you know that! I like humans a lot! I mean Juli-ah." his babbling was cut off as Raymond and Amala smirked at him.

"Do you know any Julia's on the ship, Amala?" drawled Raymond.

"There's only one that comes to mind, but I'm pretty sure she's our commanding officer." frowned Amala, pretending to be deep in thought.

For once, Garrus notably had no smartass remark or quip to make and stood there uncomfortably. Raymond and Amala decided to take pity on the poor turian ( _at least for now, anyway!_ ) and let him off the hook.

"Is your shop very far away?" said Amala, changing the subject.

Lantar frowned, "No...actually they all should have been back by now..."

If it weren't the nature of Omega itself that tipped the rest of them off to trouble, then it was the way that Lantar's tone abruptly darkened.

"Who were the people that went with her?" asked Amala hesitantly. Considering how long they had been docked, one person's absence was very notable.

"Carol, Rob, Silas and Grace." said Tali, answering for Lantar who was now fiddling with his omni-tool anxiously.

Rob and Silas were two of the oddly rare full-time marines onboard that Julia would bring with her down on missions sometimes. Pleasant guys, but Amala always felt as if they kind of just melted into the background.

More importantly, _Carol_ had gone with them.

Despite the fact that she had taken up a semi-permanent residence within Julia's quarters, the person that Amala felt the most comfortable with on the _Normandy_ was Carol. The older woman had made no secret about her obvious affection for her and Amala was already beginning to grow blissfully used to these kinds of actions.

"Tali, can you try-?" asked Amala.

The quarian was already shaking her head, "I sent them a message, but they're not replying." On cue, a high-priority alert flashed across the surface of the _Normandy_ crew's omni-tools in a code that Amala didn't recognize.

"I don't know what thi-" began Tali.

"It's Morse code. Old form of an electronic cipher used back on Earth and with some of the older Alliance generations." said Raymond instantly, eyes intently roving over the message. "It's a message from Carol."

He looked up with a shocked expression, "She says they're pinned down by unknown attackers at the cargo delivery shop. Someone by the name of Grace is with them, but she's badly hurt. They're currently in a panic room of some kind, but she doesn't know how long they'll last."

Lantar growled loudly, startling them out of their stunned silence. "You-you said Grace was badly hurt?"

"We'll get her back home safe and sound." He turned to Amala and the others " _All_ of them. We need to move fast though. Marcus, can you-?"

"Already sent a message to Pressly and Dr. Chakwas, who's on her way down."

"How many people can you fit in your car?" asked Raymond quickly.

"Five. Including myself." replied Lantar instantly. The rigid turian culture ingrained in him automatically responded to the commanding tone that Raymond had adopted.

"Chakwas needs to ride along, leaving three spots for myself-" All of the crew members had military training, but Raymond was the next best after Kaidan.

"I'm coming too." said Garrus. He was already in full gear and a veteran fighter himself, so he was an obvious choice.

"And me." interjected Amala. Lantar looked confused at the concerned stares that the others were giving her, but she ignored him. "It's _Carol._ I _have_ to be there. You know I can help." Amala pleaded with all of them, silently begging them to look past her exterior.

Raymond stared at her briefly as the elevator door to the Cargo Bay slid open to reveal the urgent form of Dr. Chakwas.

"All right. Suit up."

* * *

Carol clapped a hand to the wound on her side where she had been clipped by a stray shot as she bent over Grace's pale form to examine her wounds.

"How's she holding up?" asked Rob over his shoulder, not daring to tear his gaze away. He and Silas were both crouched behind a makeshift barricade in front of the sealed door. They could hear the group that attacked them moving outside of the door, no doubt quickly coming up with ways to crack it open and finish them off.

"Bad. She's okay for now, but if we don't get her some help very soon, she'll be dead within the hour." A beeping sound from her omni-tool diverted her attention away from Grace and she gave a relieved sigh.

"Managed to get a message out to everyone on the _Normandy_ about our situation." she said with a weary smile.

Rob and Silas gave delighted laughs, "Nice work, Carol!" crowed Rob.

There was still a tension within the room as the unspoken question was left hanging in the air.

 _"_ _Will we even last that long, though?"_

"Any ID on the attackers?" said Carol.

"Not any merc band I recognize. Silas?" said Rob.

Silas shrugged helplessly, "No clue. I know that the major merc bands have smaller branches, though. Maybe it's one of them?"

"...you'd be right." croaked a female voice.

Carol instantly turned towards Grace whose eyes were now open. Despite her haggard countenance, Carol could see a strong light burning within those blue eyes of hers.

"Hey there. How are you feeling?" asked Carol warmly.

Grace gave a weak smile, "Like a million credits."

Carol chuckled before asking a more serious question, "Who are these people that attacked us?"

"Me." breathed Grace.

"Pardon?"

"They were attacking me. They weren't expecting you." her breaths were shallow and she took her time in between words. "Branch of Blue Suns called Neutron who have been muscling in on shops here. Only turians in it."

She exhaled painfully, "They don't really like humans. Especially one bonded to a turian." Grace gave a weak laugh, "Guess I know how much they don't like it now."

Her eyes grew slightly wistful, "I wish I could have seen him-"

"You will." said Carol firmly. She had done what she could with first-aid, now she had to give this woman hope. "I sent out a message to all of my crew members. You remember my crew, right? The _Normandy_ , headed by the first human spectre."

"They'll be here _soon_ and we'll all get out of here _alive_." Carol took the woman's hand and gently squeezed it. Grace looked into her eyes and nodded before she once more closed her eyes and tried to conserve what little energy she had left.

 _Please...come soon._

* * *

Amala couldn't help but anxiously drum her fingers across the top of her lap as Lantar bobbed and weaved through the dense traffic of Omega. Were it any other time or situation, she would've had her face pressed to the glass; enthralled by the grungy science fiction feel that the space station had. Amala took up residence on a window seat with Dr. Chakwas and Garrus in the back, while Raymond was up front with Lantar.

Not surprisingly, many of the skycars that they passed by were old and looked to be in a state of disrepair. Everyone seemed to conform to a standard speed however, despite the lack of any obvious signs, so there didn't seem to be much chance of a traffic accident occurring. Below the line of cars sailing through the air, various slum-like areas could be seen that reminded Amala of the ghettos she had seen on Lozen.

Some things were the same in every universe, she supposed.

As it were, most of Amala's focus was on the upcoming fight that she'd no doubt find herself in the middle of. While she had no doubts about the combat prowess of Garrus and the others, she was terrified that they would arrive too late. Based on the way Lantar was gripping the controls of the skycar, this was a shared sentiment too.

"What can you tell us about your shop, Lantar? Specifically the room your wife and our guys are hiding in." asked Garrus.

"Small business operating out of Sector Five, somewhat near to Blue Suns territory, but not important enough to warrant any attention." Lantar breathed out angrily, "Or so I thought."

"Grace and the others are probably holed up in the panic room I installed in the back of our shop. It was where we spent most of our money when we first started up business, so it should buy them some time."

"Any idea who could be attacking you?" said Garrus.

"Blue Suns, maybe. Or at least a branch. There's this one group, Neutron, that's been harassing store owners in the area."

"They've been attacking other stores like yours?" asked Amala.

"No, but...only turians are in Neutron. They didn't seem like the open-minded type either...Spirits, if they hurt _her_..." growled Lantar.

"Points of entry into the shop?" asked Raymond, trying to get Lantar to focus.

Amala thought it was his upbringing that allowed Lantar to reel back his emotions in response to the commanding tone of Raymond. The turian exhaled long and slow as he answered, "Two. Back entrance and a front door. There's also an opening that leads out onto the roof, but that can only be accessed from within the shop."

"No chance of opening it from the outside?"

Lantar hesitated, "Maybe. If I had time. It's a concealed exit and the lock shouldn't be hard to disengage from the outside, but I doubt we'd be able to get up there undetected."

"What if we caused a distraction?" chimed in Amala.

Garrus hummed in approval, "That could work. We split up into two teams."

Lantar frowned, "What would be the distraction, though?"

Before Raymond or Garrus could interject, Amala answered. "I'll provide the distraction. The rest of you can go-"

"Absolutely not!" said Dr. Chakwas harshly, speaking up for the first time. Even if Amala wasn't sitting right next to her, she would be able to feel the unyielding force rippling off of the older woman.

"Dr. Chakwas." said Amala patiently, refusing to back down from this point, "My _biotics_ should be more than sufficient enough to cause a distraction."

"But _you_ are a-" began Dr. Chakwas.

"A well-paid mercenary who has more than earned her right to be aboard the _Normandy_." said Garrus smoothly. "Still, how sure are you that you could cause enough of a distraction _without_ getting yourself exposed and then killed?"

Seeing the seriousness in their eyes, Amala knew she had to answer truthfully. She doubted she'd be able to lie to both a detective and an experienced doctor.

"About ninety percent sure."

"Good enough for me." said Lantar. If he was confused by their reactions, he didn't voice it. Evidently he was more concerned about saving his wife. "How are we splitting the groups, then?"

 _Me on Team One and everyone else on Team Two?_

"I'll be on the distraction team with Amala. Doc and Garrus should be with the infiltrator team." said Raymond. "I'm not a stealthy type and the Doc should be there to patch up your wife ASAP."

"Okay. Sounds good." said Lantar slowly. Now that a solid plan had been established, there was a tinge of hope in his voice.

As the three continued to hash out the details of their plan, Amala risked a glance towards Dr. Chakwas whose mouth was set in a line of stern disapproval. She caught Amala looking at her and her eyes promised that they'd be discussing this matter when they got back to the ship.

 _If it means saving Carol, then bring on the lectures!_

* * *

Lantar anxiously clicked his mandibles together again as he stared down from their concealed position. Surrounding his store was about thirty Neutron gang members, all fully equipped in their gaudy purple armour. It would be hard to describe his emotional state at the moment: Fear for his wife, Anxiety for the distraction team and Rage for his enemies who dared to harm his family were among the most prominent emotions.

"Those two will get the job done." said Garrus quietly.

"Even so...Amala is just-" began Dr. Chakwas. It was decided for her to come along (at her insistence) in case of Grace's injuries being so severe that even a second difference would mean life or death.

"Far more than what some two-bit thugs can handle, Doctor." assured Garrus.

Curiosity would be another emotion he was feeling. The _Normandy_ crew members seemed to have very odd reactions and attitudes towards Amala; ones that seemed to careen back and forth between pride and overprotectiveness.

 _Almost as if Amala was a..._

Lantar snorted inwardly to himself. Even if he didn't have a human wife and knew _nothing_ about humans, he'd recognize a child when he saw one.

"They're going to need a pretty big distraction though. I didn't think there would be this many." said Lantar worriedly.

Garrus frowned, "I know, but Raymond is a professional and Amala is-" his eyes widened and his mandibles splayed in shock, " _fucking_ _crazy!_ "

* * *

Lantar had enough time to see the brief sight of _several_ rusty looking skycars sailing through the air towards the clustered group of Neutron thugs.

 ** _BOOOOOOOOM!_**

Loud explosions could be heard over the cries of gang members being crushed by the falling debris. Amala looked over her shoulder to see an open-mouthed Raymond witnessing the carnage unfold before them.

"See? Told you I could throw that far." said Amala smugly.

Raymond's face slowly melted into a grin, "Remind me never to get on your bad side, kid."

Amala rolled her eyes, "Please. You're the one who suggested we filled the next few cars with explosives. If anything, you're way more vicious."

"Yeah, but I'm also a grizzled marine, so this kind of thing is expected. Aren't you supposed to be a sweet little girl?" The two were already on the move as they moved forward to a new position, Raymond took out his pistol and started taking out the few mercs that were stumbling back up to their feet.

Raymond lay down more covering fire as they moved into the shop that they had both agreed to fall back in. Taking the steps two at a time, Amala quickly vaulted into the second floor. It was still clear, save for the two shopowners bodies who were most likely gunned down by the Neutron mercs.

One more reason to kill these fuckers, she supposed.

"Clear!" called Amala.

"Got it! Block off the stairs then!" Raymond entered as Amala started tossing all the furniture she could find into the narrow stairwell, clogging it up. While most of Omega's houses and buildings were prefab constructions, some directly took advantage of the fact that they were in a hollowed out asteroid and simply used the rocky walls as a foundation.

This building was no exception and with Amala's strength, she could make a quick escape for the both of them that their enemies wouldn't be able to predict.

"I have to say, you didn't leave me with a whole lot of target practice." said Raymond mildly, calmly picking out his targets who had only just figured out where their attackers were.

Amala heard the brief roars of rage and flinched as bullets cascaded into the room through the windows. "Really? Because it sounds like we already have enough to worry about."

Raymond laughed as he ducked back into cover, "Ah this is nothing. You should have seen my final exam for N4 training."

Amala was about to reply when both of their comms clicked twice in rapid succession and the two shared a grin.

"Looks like the other guys got in alright." said Raymond.

"What now?" asked Amala.

A crash from below interrupted his reply as he shook his head with a smile, "Now we make our exit and-" he froze as his eyes caught something outside.

" _Oh shit_." breathed Raymond.

Amala peeked outside and saw that another shuttle had landed near their current position and was unloading several troops wearing bright blue armour. Before she could ask who these new guys were, Raymond quickly punched in a few commands on his omni-tool and activated his comm.

" _Suns en-route to you!_ "

* * *

Garrus once more remarked at Shepard's nickname for Amala being so apt for the girl. Superchild indeed; she made one hell of a distraction as it was almost painfully easy for the trio to sneak onto the roof of Lantar's shop undetected as all hell broke loose down below.

Keeping a watchful eye through his scope, Lantar tapped his spur as soon as the entrance had been opened. Lantar descended first, followed by Chakwas and then Garrus himself down the ladder into a room that was barely big enough to accommodate all three of them. It figured that someone as cautious as Lantar who designed a panic room would also have a secret exit in his home.

Not that Garrus was complaining.

Inside the house, the sounds outside were far more muted, though that did not mean there wasn't a fair amount of shouting taking place inside either.

"What the hell was that?"

"What happened to our guys?!"

"Did we just get hit by a _suicide run_?!"

Such comments were prevalent and did a marvellous job of concealing the sounds of Lantar opening the door and peering out into the second floor's corridor undetected. Garrus caught a hint of purple flash by as a head descended down the stairs with a series of quick steps.

Lantar got his attention and signalled the presence of two turians who were still on the upper floors shouting out the windows towards the guys below. Garrus nodded and the two both drew knives from their sheath, with Chakwas remaining behind in the concealed room.

Carefully padding towards the unsuspecting turians, Garrus and Lantar reached their targets at the same time and pulled the two mercs into a chokehold and slipped their knives through the softer parts of their necks. The mercs gave strangled, choking gasps as blood filled their larynxes and their struggles turned weaker and weaker, before Lantar and Garrus gently lowered them to the ground.

They paused for a beat, outside of visible range of the windows. No sudden outcries and no sounds of steps rushing back up the stairs. Garrus nodded towards Lantar to lead the way with a flick of his mandibles towards the stairs. Lantar splayed out his right mandible in acknowledgement as the two made their way towards the first floor.

Chaos reigned on the ground floor as the wannabe mercs failed to regain any semblance of order by screaming at their compatriots banalities such as "What happened?!" or "Who did this?!".

It amused Garrus greatly that the answer to both of these questions was a little girl.

One merc was in the position of drawing breath to scream out something equally useless when he was interrupted by Garrus burying his dagger deep within his neck. A quick glance of the interior of the shop revealed that there were five mercs still standing; not counting the one that Lantar was in the process of taking down.

They soon noticed the presence of two turians who _weren't_ wearing that awful looking purple drab they called armour. By that point, it didn't matter much as Garrus and Lantar unloaded on them with their assault rifle and pistol respectively. Garrus hummed in approval at the tidy marksmanship and efficient manner in which Lantar took down his targets.

One of the mercs managed to draw his weapon and fired off a few shots that didn't even manage to breach his shields. None of them had bothered to signal for help either. Amateurs.

Behind the counter of the shop was a separate room that only contained a very hefty looking metal door that had a strange contraption attached to it's surface. Lantar ripped of the device as he operated the holographic panel on the door's side, punching in the entry code while calling out.

"Grace?! Are you in there?! Talk to me!"

"Carol! Rob, Silas! If you're in there, it's Garrus! Don't shoot!" added Garrus. He opened his comms and called for Dr. Chakwas to come down.

The red light on the door changed to green as the pressurized door hissed open and opened to reveal a decently made barricade with the familiar faces of Rob and Silas peering at the ends of pistols. Behind them was a very pale-looking Carol crouched next to a small, unmoving form of a human woman.

Relief was evident on their faces when they saw Garrus, "Garrus, we-"

"Grace!" Lantar charged into the room and leapt over the barricade to hover anxiously over his wife. "Is she okay?! What happened?"

At the same time, Garrus' comm crackled with an incoming message from Raymond: " _Suns en-route to you_!"

"Shit! We got Blue Suns coming!" called out Garrus, "We need to move, _now_!"

"We can't!" shouted Carol. "Grace is way too hurt to move!"

"If we _don't_ move, we're gonna get swarmed and she dies anyway!" retorted Garrus. Rob and Silas had already moved out of the panic room and taken up flanking positions on either sides of the entrance. Dr. Chakwas came running down the stairs and entered the panic room as the two marines left, hastily throwing open her field kit as she bent over Grace to examine her.

"Then we re-seal the door and take our stand here." said Rob. His cropped red hair and carefully maintained beard were streaked with the blue of turian blood. Coupled together with the tight smile on his face as he fired at the mercs outside, he looked quite deranged.

"Last time I go on a delivery run." muttered Silas.

"Lantar, we need you out here!" shouted Garrus. "Seal the door back up while we deal with the incoming mercs!"

The turian, once assured by Dr. Chakwas that his bondmate would be okay, sprinted out of the room and started to try and re-seal the door.

 ** _BZZRT!_**

Lantar swore audibly and tried punching in his code again as the panel next to the door started to billow out smoke and the mechanism crackled with electricity.

"Damn it! Door's busted!" he turned to Garrus wide-eyed, looking to him for help on what to do next.

Garrus was almost glad that the first spray of oncoming bullets prevented him from answering that unspoken question.

* * *

Sergeant Cathka was _not_ having a good day.

"Fuck!" he ducked as a bullet clipped the side of the skycar he had taken cover behind, helplessly watching as a sniper round took another of his guys down with him.

 _Who the hell are these guys?!_

Today was supposed to be a routine sweep of the mercantile district of Sector Five in the Blue Suns latest bid for extending their control over Omega. A job that was so easy that they even sent out one of their branches, the Neutron Stars, to take care of everything.

Then the next thing he knows is a message from one of the Neutron mercs is that they were getting gunned down like insects by three humans from the Alliance. Tarak had left Cathka with the oh-so enviable job of getting the idiots out of the mess while he went off to deal with something about the Blood Pack.

All of Omega seemed to have gone crazy today.

"Move up!" roared Cathka. "Use the cars for cover! Lay down some covering fire, dammit!"

Instead of coming to a controlled situation of dealing with the three humans, Cathka had landed in what looked like a battlefield. Still smoking wrecks of skycars littered the road with several bodies crushed beneath the vehicles.

Four of his men sprinted out on either side from the cars as they dashed towards the next piece of cover. Cathka swore as only one managed to make it into position. They had the bastards outnumbered, but they were taking heavy losses.

Cathka set his assault rifle on the hood of the car and fired blindly from behind cover, confident in his aim to lay down decent suppressive fire. He stood up and got his first good look at the bastards in the store as he continued to hold the trigger, carefully noting when to duck back down before it overheated.

Two turians and two humans and they all took up positions that covered each other's blind spots. A small part of him grudgingly admired their capabilities even as he howled in rage as two more of his men were taken down by that damn turian sniper.

One of the human's shields was overloaded and Cathka was quick to take advantage of the fact as he fired two accurate shots into the chest of the man before he ducked back down. Cathka grinned as he heard the man give an agonized cry.

He looked to his second-in-command Dhotha, another batarian who was hiding behind another skycar. _Seriously, where did these even come from?!_

"Keep up the tech attacks!" shouted Cathka. "Get another squad of men to lay down covering fire!"

"Squad B, move up! Squad A, fire at will! I don't care if your weapons overheat, just keep firing until I say to stop!" ordered Dhotha into his comms.

They still had twenty men left and so long as nothing unexpected happen, they would be able to deal with these fuckers soon enough.

Cathka would never have the chance to appreciate the irony of those thoughts as a shadow fell upon his person. He only had a brief moment to look up to see the sole of a boot filling up his field of view.

* * *

Amala, who was carrying Raymond, dashed across the rooftops as they once more returned to the battlefield, which was quickly taking a turn for the worse. Amala's stomach clenched in guilt as she saw the Blue Suns using the skycars she had thrown as cover from the squad's fire.

One merc in particular, an alien she hadn't met before with four eyes ( _Batarian, is what they were called, I think._ ), shouted towards the others. He stood up and fired off several shots that managed to take Rob in the chest who went down in a strangled cry.

"I'm going down there!" said Amala, dropping Raymond.

"Wait, Amala-!" shouted Raymond. He made a grab for her but only managed to clutch air as Amala leaped off the building and descended towards the batarian. He seemed to sense her presence and turned to look at her just as her boot impacted upon his unprotected skull.

 _"_ _All kinetic barriers work on the principle of stopping anything moving at an extremely high velocity." explained Tali, "But for much slower moving objects, they don't do a thing to stop them."_

 _"_ _What's the limit for activating these barriers? How fast do you need to go?" asked Amala._

 _"_ _At least above the speed of sound. In addition, size is an important factor for most standard barriers. Larger objects simply won't trigger the protocols in the shield's microcomputers."_

 _"_ _So if someone were to travel just below the speed of sound, they wouldn't have to worry about any barriers?"_

 _"_ _Unless they were fighting against a geth or other machines, who would be fast enough to throw up their shields in response to a threat...then...no."_

There was a sickening crack as the tremendous force in her leg caved in his head; two of his eyes directly exploded and another popped out with a wet _squelch_. Amala's foot continued to travel down the length of his head until she finally halted at the part where she met his armour; denting the metal slightly as she extricated her foot.

The Blue Suns who were nearest the batarian were frozen in shock at what had just happened to their leader and for a moment were incapable of moving. Both Amala and Raymond took advantage of this as several shots impacted the turian on her right, leaving Amala to deal with the other batarian.

Still bound by the effects of the illusion formation, the batarian was incapable of perceiving her tail and cried out in fear as he was seemingly lifted off of the ground by an invisible force. Amala slammed him into the ground as she dashed towards the turian who was stumbling from the repeated damage to his shields by Raymond and caved in his armour with a single punch; blasting him off to the side.

At the same time Amala released her victim from her tail, she had moved out from behind the skycar to see that the mercs were already alarmingly close to the shop, a few having already gotten in and were tangling with Silas in close quarters combat.

Amala screamed in both rage and fear as she slapped the side of the skycar she was hiding behind to sent it sailing into another group of mercs who were looking to flank those in the shop. She didn't bother to check how much damage she had done as her Ki erupted and she took off like a rocket towards the mercs from behind.

A small part of her mind limited her speed to just under Mach 1 as she dashed from merc to merc, crippling or killing them outright as she slaughtered her way across the battlefield. Fine mists of blood of both batarians and turians mixed in the air and created a purple haze in the area that matched the violet Ki washing out from Amala's body.

There were only a few mercs left to deal with when she noticed that a merc had somehow slipped into the room that Garrus and the others were guarding. The air shimmered around him as he disengaged some kind of invisibility cloak and drew his gun upon a slim blonde-

"NO!" screamed Amala, her vision swam in red. No longer bothering to limit her speed or caring about the remaining mercs, she pushed her Ki to the limits, her tail whipping the ground behind her to give her an extra burst of speed.

The world seemed to slow down until it came to a complete halt, the man's fingers had already pulled on the trigger. Carol's face was seemingly frozen in a look of dawning horror as she realized what was about to happen.

 _I need to go faster!_

 _More speed, more power!_

In one second she could cross a kilometre of distance at her max speed, but she watched with horror as the bullet slowly left it's chamber, she knew that it would not be enough.

A brief moment to everyone else, an eternity of sorrow for Amala, she desperately tried to think of some way to save Carol. As if answering her prayers, a spark of electricity arced across a panel with blue energy, leaping from one end of the terminal to the other in an instant.

Her mind flashed with comprehension.

* * *

"Ow."

 _Well, that didn't work. At ALL._

Amala picked herself up off the floor of the Cargo Bay and returned back to her previous spot. Her legs were sore from the strain she had put on them as she attempted her new technique.

"Er. What exactly are you doing?" asked Garrus.

She looked at Garrus with some confusion, "Practising...like I said earlier?" The people occupying the lower regions of the _Normandy_ were on a rare break and Amala had decided to take advantage of that time to try to get some real practice in.

"You're practising to run into a wall at very high-speeds?"

 _High speeds? Please. I haven't even broken the sound barrier. This can hardly count as going fast._

"Working on a new martial technique." Amala saw the continued confusion on Garrus and Wrex's faces who was also there.

"Can you break it down for the dumb aliens who aren't magical?" said Garrus dryly.

Amala shrugged and uncoiled her tail out to it's maximum length of six feet, activating her Ki as she did so. "Watch my tail."

As she said that, she more or less tried to grab hold of that elusive feeling of the element of Thunder, moving her Ki up and down her tail in an attempt to borrow it's power. It was much harder to do outside of battle, but Amala managed to coalesce an unprecedented amount of power using her Ki as electricity writhed over the surface of her tail.

She dispelled the effect as soon as it had come, "Martial techniques can be divided into two general categories. Ki-based techniques and Element-based techniques."

Amala generated a violet cube of energy to demonstrate her point. "You've already seen this before. This is a purely Ki-based technique, which are a LOT weaker than Element-based ones."

"What I just did with my tail can be thought of as something in between these two types of techniques. Being able to borrow the power of elements and use them in Ki-based techniques is one of the requirements for progressing to the next stage of cultivation."

 _Although I doubt that any practitioners were ever able to do so as early as the 3_ _rd_ _Rebirth Stage._

"What I'm trying to do now is to make a similar kind of technique for movement purposes." Amala grimaced, "Although it's not going so well."

"But you're able to just create something like that to almost instantly make yourself stronger?" asked Wrex. "Pretty sneaky, pyjak."

Amala stuck her tongue out at him, "Well it's not _that_ easy."

 _Not that hard either, for me, but it's not like they need to know that._

"Maybe if I had a moment of insight, then I'd be able to make more progress."

"Moment of insight?"

Amala hesitated as she attempted to explain, "It's like...where everything suddenly just makes _sense_. You understand how the guy in front of you is going to move, but you're not sure _how_ you know it, you just _do._ "

Wrex nodded in understanding, "So you see this only in battle, then."

"Not all the time, but yeah. I've only had it happen to me twice and both times were...pretty terrible situations."

"I'm sensing a 'but', there." said Garrus wryly.

Amala gave him a forced grin, "But the quick way is also really dangerous. You have no time to fine-tune the intricacies of your technique and you might even die attempting it."

"Sometimes you have to take that risk." said Wrex quietly.

"Mmh. Especially for the ones you love." agreed Amala sadly.

* * *

Carol was only taking shallow breaths now, the wound in her side was causing no small amount of agony, even with the medi-gel slapped on by Dr. Chakwas who was continuously to feverishly work on Grace. Despite her position as a navigation officer, Carol was trained in the Alliance military and her hold never wavered on her pistol.

Outside of the panic room, chaos reigned as Blue Suns continued to pour through the gaps between gunfire like a swarm of angry hornets. Garrus and the others continued to move between different points of cover, never giving their enemies a predictable location in which they would shoot.

As if they had been working together for years, the four men rotated smoothly with this procedure, as three of them covered the other who would shift positions. It was an awe-inspiring display of teamwork and marksmanship and it still wouldn't be enough.

Her heart leapt into her throat as she watched Rob take several bullets in his chestplate as his shields faded. He fell to the ground with a pool of blood starting to form beneath him, with only shallow motions of his chest indicating any presence of life. Silas had broke from cover to drag his friend backwards while hastily applying medi-gel on his ruined torso.

Carol hissed in pain as some of the mercs managed to break into the shop during the lull in gunfire and she set up her pistol on top of a crate to give her some extra stability. Carol timed her shots carefully as she helped the guys outside take down the mercs, overloading shields when she could.

There was a loud _bang_ as a skycar rocketed across the street and smashed against an approaching group of Suns. Startled, Carol saw a violet blur racing across the field and decimating the mercenaries. She was distracted enough that she didn't hear the quiet footsteps of a turian Blue Sun who de-cloaked in front of her.

"NO!" Carol heard a faint, familiar sounding scream as she stared at the barrel of the man's pistol, whose claws were already pulling the trigger. Though she knew it was pointless, she swung her own firearm in an attempt to get off a few shots on him before she died.

 ** _BANG!_**

Carol heard the first shot go off as the turian in front of her _exploded_ into a messy pile of blue-stained gore. In front of her, Carol was horrified to see Amala standing in front of her; a very distinct hole just above her right breast leaking out blood.

"A-Amala...?" gasped Carol. She had never seen the girl look so pale or so weak before.

Amala gave Carol a weak smile, "You're safe no-"

Like a puppet whose strings were cut, Carol barely managed to catch Amala before she collapsed to the ground, blood leaking out in great spurts from her legs and the wound in her chest.

" _Amala!_ "

* * *

 **Hey there! Hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, I would love to hear your thoughts (both good and bad) on my fanfic!**

 **Also, as you might've imagined, I'm going to be diverting events in ME canon quite a bit and outright getting rid of some of them to work with the story I have set up. Though, that being said, a lot of those changes won't be seen until we get into the ME2 portion of the story and I hope I'll be able to keep up my motivation to keep writing that far.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the delay, guys! I've been rather engrossed in RWBY crossover fanfics, that I decided to try my hand at one or two. Hell, I've even got a Claymore fic that I'm working on the side.**

 **Though Magic Effect currently remains my most worked on story as of yet and it should continue in the future.**

 **Thank you for all the reviews and follows, you guys! It means a lot! Hope you enjoy the newest chapter!**

 **Chapter 8 – Calm Before the Storm**

Caroline Grenado was the fourth-most senior member to serve on the Alliance's most advanced ship; the _Normandy_. Unlike many other people onboard the ship, Carol was the first in her family to have anything to do with space. She was born to Amina and Martin Grenado in the year 2144 CE; thirteen years before the First Contact War. Her parents were blue-collar workers living in Seattle, Washington back on Earth. They had lived through the turbulent times of discovering alien life, but played no real important role in it.

Carol was fascinated by the concept of life on other planets, even at a very young age. When the war first hit, she was suddenly struck by just how big the universe was and she was determined to explore at least a small part of it. That was how she found herself five years later, after many arguments and discussion with her parents, standing in line for an Alliance military recruitment centre.

One week later she'd be on a shuttle headed for Mars to attend basic training. A place where she would stay for the next two years, her mind and body being re-forged into one designed for protection of others. She never lost her fascination for space however, or her love of the stars. It was the one thing that allowed her to maintain such a positive attitude as she struggled with the rest of her fellow recruits.

Carol excelled in basic training and in squad exercises and she was soon nominated to go into an officer program for the next five years; gaining top marks in navigation and squad coordination. Her talents leaned more towards the organizational side rather than the combat variety, something which she didn't mind and was more than happy to work on as her dream of exploring the stars came closer and closer to fruition.

That was also the time when she found her second reason to keep struggling forward in the Alliance. A young man with cropped black hair and green eyes that betrayed a sense of comfort and security. A man whom Carol came to know during training and came to love when they were both tasked to serve on the same ship after training. A man that she would later marry and plan a family with.

Only a year after they had gotten married, the couple made the happy discovery that Carol was pregnant with a girl. Carol's excitement was quite muted in comparison to her husband's however, who was practically bouncing off of the walls in joy. For the first time in a very long while, Carol's excitement for space had dimmed somewhat, as she became more content with a future life of raising a family, although she had had no intention to stop serving in the military though

Carol's husband had already chosen a name for their soon-to-be born daughter and had even purchased a program that would let the two of them see what their child would look like when she grew up. He said that it would tide him over while he went on a mission with an up-and-coming star within the Alliance on a planet called Akuze.

Life is filled with sorrow and joy in equal measures. Sometimes, it's hard to see the equality when there seems to be more bad than good.

It was so incredibly cruel that shortly after Carol had received the news of her husband's demise that she had a miscarriage; losing the last connection she had with that wonderful man. Instead of drowning herself in sorrow, much as she wanted to, Carol focused once more on the allure of the stars; hoping to find...something. It took her some time to realize that she was drowning herself in work to avoid thinking of the life she had lost, something which was obvious in hindsight considering that she had changed back to her old last name.

But without that mixture of hard work, drive and talent; Carol doubted she would have ever have been offered a place on the _Normandy_. A position she was initially going to reject after seeing who the XO was, but she knew it was long since past that she stopped running. Everything seemed to click after that, she fit in well with the rest of the crew and came to greatly enjoy working with them; even managing to catch herself relaxing every now and then.

The changes didn't stop coming as her superior Pressly was promoted to the new XO and Carol was bumped up to the acting navigation officer; a coveted position as she charted a way for the ship to travel through the wonder that was outer space. For the first time in a long while, Carol was excited (albeit a tentative excitement) for what the future held.

Then she met the person who the Commander had brought back from Dorvega.

Carol had her first look of the girl in the showers and when she did, her heart nearly stopped beating. Amala was almost the spitting image of what her daughter was once projected to look like that Carol had found herself embracing the girl before she knew what had happened.

 _If this is a dream, then please let it never end._

Those were her earnest wishes and she was almost shocked when Amala did not disappear when she had left her sight. Carol began spending more time with the girl whenever she could, partly because she was trying to replace a life she once had and partly because she was coming to care for Amala a great deal. There were so many sides to Amala that it was a pure joy for Carol to try and discover them all.

Her embarrassed face. How she shuffled her feet and the peculiar way her tail curled up when she was feeling shy. Her delightful laugh that brightened the faces of everyone in the room. Her willingness and devotion to the people she called her friends. The way she pouted with puffed cheeks whenever someone teased her too much. The little skip she had in her step when she was happy or the ways her eyes gleamed when presented with meat.

She loved the feel of Amala's hair as she combed her silky locks and the way that she seemed to fit perfectly within her arms. The way her small hands felt in her own and how it brought such an indescribable sense of joy to Carol. She was fascinated and horrified at the same time of Amala's past; marvelling at how such a child could be so strong to survive in such a brutal world and yet still be so loving and warm.

Carol tried so hard not to get attached to Amala, but it was near impossible to do so. She knew Amala would eventually leave and that she would only be hurt more if she got any more attached than she did.

It was only when she sat at the side of her bed, holding one of Amala's small hands in her own that Carol knew she already loved the girl far too much.

* * *

"How long has she been in there?" asked Julia quietly.

"Since she came off duty." replied Dr. Chakwas. The two women were holding two mugs of tea as they glanced towards the figures of Amala and Carol; of which the latter was currently reading some sort of fable to the still unconscious girl.

Julia sighed and set her mug down on the table, "God, how did everything go to hell so fast?"

They had rushed at top speed to Lantar's shop after Julia decoded the emergency message and radioed in to the _Normandy_. Instead of diving into the middle of a firefight like they expected, they landed in a war-torn battlefield that was strewn with the corpses of mercenaries and ruined skycars.

"Considering that we're on Omega, it's a miracle that no one ended up dying." said Chakwas consolingly.

"Maybe. But in return, we're going to lose Rob when we meet up with the _Hippocrates_." Rob was the most heavily injured of the crew members sent to Omega, with more than four penetrating bullet wounds and one that had chipped his spine. Dr. Chakwas had done the best she could, but Rob would need to be handed off to an Alliance medical vessel for proper care.

Amala was a completely different story, however. When Julia had found out what happened, she had nearly gone ballistic towards the crew members who had allowed Amala to go with them. It was thanks to Wrex and Tali saying that Amala would have gone after them anyway, that Julia managed to calm down.

Damage control was the next option as the team scrubbed any security cameras that were on-site and brought the heavily injured Amala, Rob and Grace back to the _Normandy_. Grace was quickly patched up and after extracting a promise from Lantar not to reveal what he had seen (as Amala had reverted to her normal form soon after she fell unconscious), Julia had quickly ordered the ship to disembark from Omega.

Garm's omni-tool revealed that Saren had departed on a ship with several Blood Pack members known as the _Warlord's Wrath_ , a very old frigate purchased second-hand from a volus ship company. That led to a quick call to the Council later, who most likely then contacted the STG, requesting that they track the ship's last known locations. It would take some time, so Julia decided to finish up some missions that she had received whilst she was on the Citadel.

"How's our girl doing today, Doc?" Julia sipped her tea, lost in her own morbid thoughts.

Dr. Chakwas sighed, "Her vitals are all stable and the massive wounds done to both of her calf muscles have almost finished regenerating, but she shows no sign of waking up from her comatose state. Amala's brain is different than ours and there are certain regions that are showing an increased activity compared to the rest. Whatever she did, it didn't appear to have any lasting effects on her, so it's possible that she'll wake up anytime now."

 _Whatever she did, indeed._

A few metres out from Lantar's shop, there was a massive crater in the ground with cracks running radially outwards and a long black streak stretching from the crater to the panic-room. The bullet wound to her chest (which had since healed) was only possible because Amala's shield emitters were fried by a huge burst of energy.

"Let me know when she does then." Julia drained the last of her tea and placed it in the sink.

"Of course, Commander."

* * *

Tali sat alone at a workbench with a blackened piece of armour sitting dismantled off to the side. Thirty two tiny shield emitters were arranged into different groups according to how damaged they were as she tried to figure out what exactly went wrong.

"Was the electrical discharge not spread evenly to all emitters? The capacitors on half of these practically imploded..." muttered Tali. Her agile fingers danced across the surface of the emitters, slowly repairing and improving them.

Despite what she had heard from Garrus and the rest, Tali was convinced that it was her shoddy workmanship that had allowed Amala's shields to fail and caused her to get...

 _No, don't think about that. Just focus on fixing your mistake._

"Perhaps I could reduce the amount of emitters and fit in a larger capacitor to each individual unit? Or maybe devise a conduction circuit that would allow better generation of mass effect fields..."

"Shouldn't you be off duty, Miss Zorah?" said a playful voice.

Startled, Tali turned around to see the smiling face of her Captain. "Shepard! How long have you been standing there?"

"Just arrived actually. You must have been pretty focused on your work if you couldn't hear the Cargo Bay elevator working."

Tali wrung her hands together nervously, "Well...I was working on, um...Amala's armour."

Julia's smile faded from her face. "Why are you working on that?"

The carefully neutral tone sent warning bells ringing through Tali's mind. "I wanted to know what I did wrong." she said quietly.

"What you did wrong?" repeated Julia with a confused look.

"Yes! There must have been something I did wrong that caused Amala's shields to fail. Something that I overlooked and now because of my _stupid_ mistake, she's-"

Tali's babbling was cut off as Julia placed a calming hand on her shoulder. "Tali. This is not your fault."

"But-"

"Stop." It only took one word for Tali to go rigid as Julia revealed the character that made her a spectre. "You couldn't have possibly predicted what might have happened to Amala. I doubt even Amala knew what would happen to her when she did...whatever she did."

Julia's eyes softened, "In the time I've known you Tali, you have proven yourself time and time again to be an extremely hard-working and kindhearted person. I _refuse_ to believe that someone as diligent and careful as you would make a mistake for a girl you clearly care about."

Those last words caused Tali to tremble, a shudder that seemed to pass through her soul. Amala was one of the very few people that did not judge Tali because of her background. She looked at her with an open heart and saw Tali as a person, rather than as a member of a race who created the geth. "She's all alone here. Stranded; without a planet to go back to. I should have done something more for her..."

"I've seen the way Amala seems to relax when she's talking to you. You're already helping her by just _being_ there for her. The best thing to do now is to relax and wait for her to wake up. We'll all do the customary ritual of scolding her, forgiving her and then hugging her and she'll still look at you the same way that she always does."

Tali relaxed as she smiled. "How do you always do that?" she asked wistfully, "Always knowing the right thing to say?"

Julia grinned, "I like to think of myself as a 'people person'."

Tali laughed, "Thanks, Shepard. For everything."

"You're welcome, Tali. Talk later?"

"Definitely."

* * *

"Wrex."

"Shepard."

Both figures had a small grin pass over their faces as they did their usual ritual. Though these grins were slightly tempered by the pall that had settled over the _Normandy_. It had been less than day since they left Omega and Julia figured that the mood would improve sooner rather than later.

"How are you holding up, Wrex?"

"This about Omega?"

"Partly. Also doing my usual 'rounds' thing." said Julia with an easy grin. She crowed in triumph inwardly when Wrex gave her a matching smile.

"I'm fine, Shepard. You made it clear that you're a true friend and not someone who just wants to screw the krogan."

Julia's lip twitched at these words and Wrex rolled his eyes, "Get your head out of the gutter, Shepard."

"I didn't say anything." laughed Julia.

"No, but you were thinking it." said Wrex accusingly.

Julia winked, "Don't flatter yourself, Wrex."

"I'm not." said Wrex in mock hurt, "It's hard for any female to resist true krogan perfection."

She laughed, "Never change, Wrex."

"I'm almost a thousand years old, Shepard. I'm way too old to start changing myself." grumbled Wrex.

Julia smiled and her face became contemplative. "If we find a proper cure for the genophage, will you go back to Tuchanka?"

Wrex stared off into the distance for a few seconds, age-old memories flashing through his eyes. "Yes..." he said slowly, "But I don't think the krogan are ready for the cure. Not yet, anyway."

"I'm surprised. I thought you would want to give the cure to your people immediately."

"Not with the way they are now. Violent and fractured; constantly vying for dominance instead of working to restore our homeworld. But if I can unite our people, make sure that they're focused on improving our race and restoring our culture instead of seeking revenge, the krogan can enter a new age." said Wrex with conviction.

"Sounds like a big job. You'll let me know if you need any help, right, Wrex?"

"As if I'd need to ask." snorted Wrex. Julia's heart warmed even as she laughed along with Wrex.

"How's the pyjak?" asked Wrex with a hint of worry in his voice.

"She's looking a lot better, but she hasn't shown any sign of waking up yet." sighed Julia.

"Makes my plates itch knowing that there's no one left of the ones who did that to her to kill." rumbled Wrex dangerously.

"You and me both." Julia leaned back against a crate with folded arms, turning her head towards Wrex with a smile, "You know you're free to visit her whenever you like, right?"

"I would...prefer not to." The pause in Wrex' usual blunt speech was significant enough that Julia looked at him with concern. Wrex caught her eye, "Seeing a child so still brings up painful memories."

"It's funny, you know? She's only been on this ship less than a month and I already miss the sound of her running around." Julia smiled at the memories that were invoked at these words.

"Pyjak's strong. She'll be up soon enough, doing krogan things like usual." grunted Wrex.

"Krogan things, huh? That a synonym for crazy?"

"Nah, humans are crazy. You're such squishy creatures, yet you insist on charging at the front of a battle."

"I prefer to think of myself as passionate."

"Krogan do things with a singular goal in mind and they use everything in their means to achieve it. Pyjak did that and it worked." Julia noted that Wrex said this with an odd amount of pride.

Julia chuckled and patted Wrex's shoulder, "Good talking with you, Wrex."

"Shepard." nodded Wrex.

* * *

"We'll be reaching the Strenuus system in just under two hours, Commander."

"Good, keep me posted, Joker."

"Aye, aye."

Julia walked away from her pilot and made her way towards Pressly and Carol. They were currently on the hunt for a small trading vessel that had gone missing by the name of the MSV Majesty on behalf of a man named Garoth that Julia had met in the Citadel tower. Garoth's brother was the captain of the ship and he had not heard from his brother or any other members of the ship in quite some time.

Julia, being the busybody that she was, naturally decided that this was something worth pursuing. Especially considering they were still waiting on the STG for a report on Saren's ship.

"Commander." greeted Pressly.

"Hello, Commander." greeted Carol with a smile. Julia noticed that her smile was more strained than usual, but the woman seemed to be doing okay physically.

"What have you two got for me on the Strenuus system?"

"It's a single star system with five planets in relatively close orbit." Pressly pulled up his notes on his omni-tool

"While there's no planets with breathable atmospheres, several of the planets have resources such as helium-3 in significant amounts." added Carol. "Though it's a little odd why the MSV Majesty would be in such a system."

"The Strenuus system is far from any known mass relay and there's no trading outposts in any close distance. The ship itself isn't a mining vessel and should have no reason for being in the system in the first place." clarified Pressly.

"Noted. Keep up the good work. We hit the system in under two hours."

""Yes, ma'am."" They both tossed a salute towards her and went back to work. Julia took the stairs down to the second level, figuring she could get some extra work done back in her quarters and maybe relax a bit until they entered the system. She was surprised when she saw a familiar turian in front of her door.

"Shepard." greeted Garrus, "Got a minute?"

"I do. This chat need a little privacy?". He nodded and she brushed past him to open the door to her quarters. Garrus looked around curiously at her quarters, before he got straight to the point.

"Do you remember that doctor I was telling you about back in my days at C-Sec?"

"The sick fucker using people as his own organ farm?" Julia growled at the memory of Dr. Saleon.

"Same guy." said Garrus. He started pacing back and forth across her quarters, his hands held tightly against his back as if he were afraid he was going to tear something apart if he didn't physically restrain himself. "A buddy of mine back at C-Sec recently found a lead on a research convoy with a salarian doctor."

"Saleon?"

He hesitated, "The description matches him perfectly, but the only salarian on board is going by the name of Dr. Heart."

Julia could see how much this meant to Garrus and she knew what he wanted to ask. Even so, they still had a mission to take down Saren and of the two, Saleon was the lesser evil. She sighed, "Garrus...with the mission we have..."

Garrus slightly deflated, "I...understand, Shepard. But if we have the time?..."

"Fucking hell, Garrus, as soon as this Saren nonsense is over, I'm going with you to put a few bullets in the bastard myself."

He smiled, "Thanks, Shepard. This means a lot to me."

"Ah that's what friends are for, right?" She looked over him with some concern and still saw that he was kind of tense. "You...going to be alright there with all of that tension?"

"I'll manage. If this were a turian ship, I'd have a couple of different ways to relieve myself."

"Such as?"

"Full-contact sparring or uh...intimate relations." he said sheepishly.

"I'm guessing you only ever had Option One." said Julia slyly.

Garrus narrowed his eyes, "Hey, I was a champion in both situations."

"Uh-huh."

"I fought eleven rounds with the second-best CQC specialist on the ship without any breaks, until we finally came to a draw. I had the extra reach, but she was more flexible." boasted Garrus. Julia maintained her unimpressed facade, though she knew that Garrus was deadly in a spar, and waited for Garrus to continue his tale until he eventually slipped and said something incredibly embarrassing.

He did not disappoint.

"In _fact_ , this girl was so impressed with how I had managed to force her into a draw, that she drew me back to her quarters for a tiebreaker." he said smugly, "I had the _reach_ , but she was more _flexible_."

"I don't think I've ever heard someone retell their sexual conquest quite so...eloquently." chuckled Julia. Garrus' face was a delight to watch as he went from being cocksure to mortified in the span of a few seconds.

Julia took a step forward and lightly traced her fingers across his mandibles, a lusty look coming over her face and voice. "But I suppose...I could help you relieve some of that...tension." whispering the last word directly into his ears.

Garrus froze like a deer in headlights, while his mandibles repeatedly opened and closed without any words coming out of it. "Um, well, I, uh. I do think you're very, well, uh..."

"And by helping you relieve tension, I mean I'm up for a spar with you. See you downstairs in the Cargo Bay?" she asked innocently.

"Oh, you meant, uh, right now? I mean..." babbled Garrus.

Julia smirked as she left her quarters, making sure to put an extra sway to her hips as she left. She snickered to herself as she could almost feel Garrus' eyes on her body as she did so, by the way he suddenly stopped talking.

 _He's so easy to tease._

* * *

"Last push, people! Come on!" shouted Julia, unleashing a maelstrom of bullets against the last few mercs in their base. They had found the MSV Majesty, only to find that the ship had been mostly destroyed with a possible escape shuttle landing on the planet of Xawin. The radioactive trail that the ship had given off had led directly to this base, upon which they had neared it in the MAKO, promptly began firing at them.

They went through the usual motions of destroying the outer defences, only to find a rather large group of asari and krogan mercs within the base with a hefty amount of stolen goods.

Needless to say, negotiation was not the first thing on the mercs' minds.

"Krogan charging!" shouted Kaidan on her flank.

"Overload it! Liara, hit 'em with a lift!" Julia ducked reflexively as an explosion sounded from the top floor where a stray bullet had caught a crate containing rather volatile contents. Two mercenaries went down screaming as their armour sizzled with a green liquid, eating away at the metal and the soft blue flesh underneath.

"RAAAAHHHHH!" Wrex howled as he barrelled over a group of mercs like they were bowling pins. As they fell to the ground, Julia quickly poured several rounds into each merc, before catching the last few in a singularity, which Kaidan promptly detonated.

The gunfire was slowly beginning to die down and Julia scanned for her next target when the telltale glow of biotics flared in front of her suddenly as an asari charged to the space in front of her. Julia swiftly brought up her pistol as the asari did the same; both fighters knocking the guns away with the other hand.

Julia stepped inside the merc's space as she threw a kick, grunting slightly from the sheer strength of it. Her arm came up, glowing with the power of her biotics as she delivered a wicked uppercut to the bottom of the merc's chin. Her helmet cracked in several placed and there was a massive dent in the bottom as the girl was slightly taken off her feet.

Their brief combat would've continued, as the girl was only dazed, had it not been for Ashley choosing that moment to fire a few rounds into the side of the merc's head. Her shields flared and then soon failed underneath the relentless onslaught of bullets from Ashley, until her visor was rent completely opaque by the sheer amount of blood that filled the compartment.

"Thanks, Ash." Julia bent down to retrieve her pistol.

"No problem, Skipper."

"All clear, Commander." announced Kaidan.

"Right then, teams of two, people. We've got three floors to check! You've all got the description for Captain Wilhelm on your omni-tools!" They all nodded their assent as the team started to quickly, but methodically check each floor of the base.

There were more than few boxes filled with goods such as platinum or purified eezo and an entire room filled with military-grade hardware from the Alliance and Turian militaries.

Finally, it was on the third floor where Liara and Wrex had taken, that Julia received the bad news. She told the rest of the team to keep searching the lower floors as she made her way up to the third level. In the room at the end of the hallway, she saw Liara and Wrex standing over the body of Captain Wilhelm whose frozen hands clutched tightly onto a datapad.

She crouched down and looked at the datapad, seeing a half-written letter of farewell to Garoth and several other names she did not recognize.

"Goddammit..." she sighed. "Let's a bag set up. I'd imagine Garoth would like a body to be able to bury."

"Aye, Commander." said Liara quietly.

* * *

It was getting close to the end of the day and Julia felt it would be better to power through her remaining paperwork and then take a nice, long hot shower (which in the Alliance, meant being slightly over five minutes) and then head off to bed. Thus, she attacked her reports with a furious work ethic that would have impressed even Jon Grissom and finished her work in record time.

Smiling to herself, Julia grabbed a towel and her small supplies of toiletries and padded off to the bathroom. There were already a few women then, most of whom were leaving and a few who were finishing up their own showers.

"Hey, Skipper. Coming to shower with us lowly grunts?" asked Ashley as she pulled her top off.

"What can I say, my cushy private quarters was beginning to feel a bit stifling." retorted Julia, stripping her clothes quickly and shoving it into the locker.

Ashley snorted as she sauntered off nude to one of the shower stalls, a hissing sound split the air as hot water cascaded down from the faucet and onto the brunette. Julia finished with the last of her clothes, shivering slightly from the cold sterility of the ship, and took up an adjacent stall.

"Ahhh...definitely the best way to end a day." moaned Julia as she felt the water hit her skin.

While the slim screen prevented her from seeing Ashley's face, Julia knew the chief had a grin on her face. "Making some pretty indecent noises next-door, Shepard. Sure it's just the water you're reacting to?"

Julia chuckled, "Trust me, Ash, I would be making a lot more noise if I was doing _that_."

"Hot showers are pretty nice." said Ashley agreeably. "I won't lie, I'm kind of glad our non-human companions don't seem to share the same love."

Julia's heart warmed at Ashley's casual mention of the word companions. She doubted she'd be using the term 'friends' any time soon, but this was a show of remarkable progress on her part. Julia kept her happiness to herself and said teasingly, "Not a fan of sharing, Chief?"

"Growing up with three younger sisters will do that to you."

"You don't need to tell me twice. God knows how much I fought with my little brother over things when were kids."

"Huh. Didn't know you had a brother. Any other sibs?"

"Only the one. Alex is a year younger than I am. If he wasn't demanding my toys he was following me around like a shadow." Julia chuckled fondly, "Used to drive me nuts."

"I get that. My second youngest sister, Abby, was pretty much the same way. And when I left for boot camp, she latched onto Sarah pretty soon afterwards."

"Though as much as it might have annoyed you..." Julia squeezed out some shampoo and started massaging it into her scalp.

"...you never really hated it that much either." finished Ashley. "Hey, Shepard, you mind if I ask you something kind of...personal?"

"You don't have to ask Ash, fire away."

"Do you think it's...weird that I've...started to think of Amala as kind of being similar to a little sister?" she said hesitantly.

"Not at all." replied Julia simply. Honestly, she would be surprised if there was someone on the _Normandy_ who wasn't a least a _little_ attached to the mysterious little girl.

"Shouldn't it be weird, though? I mean, she's not even human!"

 _A chance for progress or a possible xenophobic relapse? Better word this carefully._

"Doesn't change the fact that she's still a person though, no matter what she may look like. She feels the same things we do: happiness, sadness, anger, joy and despite everything that sets her apart from us, Amala's still able to _connect_ with us."

"If you've come to think of her as a little sister, even a little bit, then I think you already know that you're not seeing her as Amala the alien, you're seeing her as Amala the person. Amala the adorable little girl who makes you want to pick her up and squeeze her and tell her that everything will be all right."

For a long time, there was nothing but the sound of two showers running and the occasional noises of Julia scrubbing herself with soap. "Maybe...you're right. But...then...what should I do?"

"Be a big sister for her. I think you already have some experience with that after all, right?"

Ashley laughed lightly, "Yeah...I guess I do. Thanks, Skipper."

"Anytime, Ash."

* * *

To say Julia was pissed, would be an understatement. She was absolutely _boiling_ with rage.

But she wouldn't let her emotions rule her. She couldn't! To do so would mean to lose control, which could lead to the loss of far more life than any she might save. That was a hard lesson that she had learned back during her training as an N7, and one that she would never forget.

Julia took a deep breath as she stared at the corpse of what was formerly a human. His or her skin was a sickly gray color, whose veins poked out obscenely from beneath it's skin. As green blood pooled from beneath the bullet wounds, Julia was able to make out the unnatural bulges under it's clothes of multiple organs.

The small crew she had brought with her onboard the MSV Fedele, was looking as sick as Julia was feeling at the horrors that roamed the ship. Even Wrex, as tough as the old mercenary was, was looking particularly disturbed.

For the first time, Julia was glad that Amala was currently in a coma. She did not want to risk even the smallest chance of the girl having to see something as disgusting as this.

God knows she'd be having nightmares about this place for days to come.

"Come on. Two more rooms to search." said Julia. The rest of her squad: Garrus, Wrex and Kaidan all nodded, not saying a word as they fell in step behind her.

Julia raised her pistol as she cleared the corner, before having Wrex and Kaidan take up both sides of the door. She nodded towards Kaidan, who hit the green button and they all tensed. They waited for a brief moment for another husk-like creature to come screaming towards them, when they realized the small room was empty, save for a locker with a decent set of heavy armour.

 _At least there's something good about this fucking place._

The squad then turned towards the last door, the green light glowing with an almost ominous light as they prepared to meet the mastermind of this horror. Wrex opened the door and the squad raised their weapons.

"Come out with your arms up." ordered Julia, spying the tips of brown horns peeking out from behind a crate

A cowering, brown-skinned salarian stood up slowly from his hiding spot with his arms raised. He looked incredibly relieved to see them, but kept his hands up at seeing their cold demeanour.

He gave a hesitant smile that was wreathed with grief and exhaustion, "Thank you! Thank you, for saving me from those... _things_." he shuddered at the mention of the creatures roaming the ship.

"Commander. That's him." said Garrus coldly, "That's Dr. Saleon."

Julia had to admit, the man was a hell of an actor. If Garrus hadn't informed them of what Dr. Saleon looked like, she might've been inclined to believe him. As it were, as soon as Garrus outed the man, the salarian flinched at being named and hastily denied his claim.

"What?!" his voice went up an octave. "My name is Heart. D-Doctor Heart! Please, get me out of here!" he begged.

"Are you sure it's him?" asked Julia, looking at Garrus for confirmation.

"Positive." growled Garrus. She saw the certainty in his eyes and she nodded back. Garrus turned back to the salarian and gave a cold and sinister laugh. "There's no escape this time, Doctor. I'd harvest your organs first, but we don't have the time."

Wrex gave a hearty chuckle Garrus' words and looked at the turian with an appreciative glint in his eye. Julia however, frowned at the amount of raw venom and darkness that had overtaken Garrus.

She understood the desire for vengeance better than anyone.

"You're crazy...! He's crazy!" emphasized Dr. Saleon. He looked at Julia pleadingly, "Please! Don't let him do this to me!"

 _But this is not the way, Garrus._

"We'll take him in. Drop him off with the military." pronounced Julia.

Kaidan and Wrex let out noises of disapproval, but otherwise didn't question her orders. Garrus, on the other hand...

"But we have him! Right where we want!" he protested, "We can't let him get away! Not again...!"

"Garrus, I agree with you that he needs to be punished and he _will_. But not like this. Not only because we shouldn't kill him in cold blood to satisfy our own sense of justice but _also_ because we need to interrogate him."

Julia saw the look of confusion on Garrus' face (as well as the anger) and she chastised him, "Think about it Garrus! How many other people could he have experimented on? How many other labs does he have? If he dies, then we'll _never_ be able to save those lives!"

"I -!" Garrus let out a deep breath before arguing back. As if he were letting go of a very heavy burden that he had been shouldering for quite some time. "Alright...you're right."

He turned a glare towards Dr. Saleon and hissed out, "You're a _very_ lucky salarian. You owe the Commander your worthless, little life."

All traces of fear had disappeared from Dr. Saleon's face and was replaced by a scornful scowl. "Oh. Thank you _so_ _very much_." he said sarcastically.

Julia caught the doctor's movement before he could reach for his gun, as she slammed him into the ground with her biotics. There was a certain amount of satisfaction as the doctor cried out in pain, who gave an additional yelp as she marched over to him and roughly yanked his hands behind his back to cuff him.

"Make no mistake, Saleon. This was no act of mercy. You _will_ pay for your crimes." she promised, with an intensity that made even Wrex shudder from the sheer malice of it.

Garrus gave a dry chuckle and Julia found herself incredibly relieved to hear that sound. "You know...I don't think I've ever met anyone like you before, Commander."

Kaidan laughed, "There is a reason why she's known as the 'Lioness of Elysium' after all."

Julia groaned as her squadmates chuckled, "Ugh, it's just Commander Shepard to you. I hate that name."

* * *

Julia had a slightly sadistic smile on her face as she left her quarters. The STG report had finally come in with information on the whereabouts of _Warlord's Wrath_ and she had already alerted Carol to set a course for the last planet it was seen docking at. The slight creaking noise and quiet curses alerted Julia to what lay around the corner of her cabin and she shook her head with a smile at the now familiar sight of Kaidan fiddling with an electrical panel.

"You know..." began Julia, Kaidan jumped slightly at the sound of the voice and flinched when a spark shot out of the panel, "Considering how much time you spend trying to fix a _single_ light, I'm beginning to have my doubts as to you having an engineering degree."

"The _Normandy_ is the most advanced ship to have ever been produced by _both_ the Turian and the Alliance military. Even a single light is more technically complex than it would appear." said Kaidan defensively.

"Uh-huh. And remind me, how long have you been working on fixing it?"

Kaidan's cheeks turned pink, "...Three weeks." He glared at the flickering light as if it had killed his entire family, "But I'll fix it sooner or later."

"Normally I would call you out on your bullshit, but I've heard the same from the other techs onboard." Julia frowned trying to remember the exact name Tali had given the light, "'Demon Light'?"

"Most of us refer to it as 'Fluorescent Hell'."

"Classy. How are you doing otherwise, Kaidan? Anymore migraines?"

"No more than usual, thankfully." He glared darkly at 'Fluorescent Hell' once again, "No thanks to this bastard."

"Hmm..." Julia walked around him and started to fill the coffeemaker and get it started to producing the most important substance on this ship besides eezo. "Any changes inside?" asked Julia, gesturing towards the Med Bay.

Kaidan shrugged helplessly, "Chakwas says there were no changes in her condition."

Julia sighed, "Well...it's only been two days." _Wonder when I'll start saying something along the lines of 'It's only been a month.'._

"Speaking of Amala, that reminds me of something." said Kaidan suddenly.

"Oh?"

"I was talking to Raymond earlier about what went down on Omega -" Julia grimaced briefly, not wanting to recall how everything went to shit on the space station, "-and we were thinking of modifying the ground crew's shields."

"Modify how?"

"Change our shields so that they would react to someone of Amala's abilities."

Julia's eyes narrowed as a protective instinct flared within her, "Are you _suggesting_ -"

"No." denied Kaidan firmly, "But we both know that Amala wasn't the _only_ person to cross over."

Julia felt like slapping herself before a concern came to her mind, "...there's no guarantee that Regis will work with Saren though." she sighed when she saw Kaidan about to make the obvious rebuttal, "Then again, it's also _equally_ likely that he could. Damn! I should have thought about that!"

"I take it that I'm clear to start making modifications, then?"

"How are these going to affect our normal shielding capabilities?"

"They'll be ever so slightly weaker to account for the increased draw on the microprocessors, but in return, they should offer us a few seconds of protection from being outright _obliterated_ if we are attacked by Regis."

"Get Tali in on this project and finish it up ASAP. We're going to need those ready within three days."

"We got a location?" asked Kaidan with a growing smile.

"We got a location." Julia grinned back at him. "Ever heard of a planet called Feros?"

* * *

Saren prowled the massive bowels of Sovereign, barely sparing a glance to the geth who roamed it's innards before he caught sight of a familiar shade of blue standing outside a holding cell. He frowned slightly when he saw a cable extending from one of the walls and attaching itself to the base of Benezia's implant.

Saren would've commented on the sheer _wrongness_ of it before he felt a tiny whisper in the back of his mind that said that this was necessary in order to properly use the alien. Saren shook his head at that word, if it were not for the extensive genetic testing that had been conducted on the creature, he would've said that the thing inside the prison chamber was definitely a human.

He was in his late twenties, with an unkempt beard growing wildly on his face and a mop of shaggy blonde hair streaming down from his head. Piercing green eyes impossibly glared defiantly through the two-way glass at Benezia, whose eyes had become completely black. He was held in place by several cables wrapping around his naked form, with some that pierced through his otherworldly tough skin. Sweat and blood poured down his muscular frame, as the veins underneath his skin bulged with some great exertion; a pained expression wracking his face.

 ** _*Tskhshhh*_**

There was a hissing sound as steam erupted from the cable connected to Benezia, before it disconnected from her neck with a wet squelch. She swayed in place, exhaustion clear on her face, before she was caught in Saren's arms. Benezia looked up in gratitude towards Saren, who gently helped her back to her feet.

"Did you see anything this time?" asked Saren, knowing the answer already from Benezia's face.

"No...too many images passed by too fast. None of them were similar to the last time Nazara used me to check. I could not understand any of it..." she sighed as they both looked into the chamber, where the alien's restraints had been removed as wires and cables receded back into the crevices of the chamber.

Saren watched with fascination as the bloody holes on his body began to heal before their very eyes as the alien gesticulated wildly to the room while he talked to Sovereign. They could not hear his words, but the anger they had become accustomed to seeing within the alien was already fading and Saren was not sure if that meant the indoctrination was working on him finally or that he and Sovereign had reached some sort of mutual understanding.

He could not say he liked either option, very much. One unknowable entity of untold power was already far too much for him and was pushing Saren's mind to it's limits. Still, a part of him looked on enviously at the alien, wondering if it would be possible for he to gain such power as well.

"I don't understand...just what exactly _is_ that thing?" For the life of him, Saren had no idea what the Reaper wanted with the alien. It was true that he was certainly far stronger than anything than Saren would've thought capable and was easily capable of dispatching both him and Benezia.

For all that strength though, it seemed impossible to turn him over to their side. No matter how much Sovereign employed it's indoctrination upon him. Although...Saren wasn't sure whether the Reaper had actually used this method, for he would not divulge anything regarding the alien to Benezia or Saren.

"I'm not sure, Saren, but...it frightens me." admitted Benezia. Saren was saved from making any further comment when a geth platform stomped up to the pair, it's metallic feet clacking loudly against the floors of Sovereign.

"Saren-Prophet." it greeted, "Your instructions on the remnants of the Thoi'han race have been met."

"Clarify." growled Saren.

"Exogeni scientists have just finished designated Species Thirty Seven, Codename: Thorian, and have accurately dated it's age to being roughly more than fifty-three point zero four millenia. Preliminary data suggests the creature as a surviving progeny of the Thoi'han."

Saren shuddered at the memory of the creature they had discovered on the garden world of Eingana. They had found the logs of a salarian research team unearthing another Prothean beacon, which Saren had quickly moved back to the Virmire base as well as the remains of a truly massive alien lifeform. The data gathered by the salarians was shocking, to say the least, but it provided an avenue of research into better understanding Prothean technology.

Saren had thus ordered the geth (and through them, all of his privately owned companies) to conduct exploratory surveys on planets that were confirmed as being Prothean. He had gotten extra information about the Thoi'han from Sovereign itself, who was incredibly pleased at the forethought that Saren had put into the plan.

It was just another way of Saren proving that a portion of the galaxy should be spared from the upcoming purge. He could only pray that he could continue pleasing Sovereign as much as possible in the future.

* * *

 _The trees shook gently as an unseen wind blew through the desolate forest; quiet save for the whispers of oily shadows that billowed out from the ground and drew near to her._

 _"_ _You'll be able to...climb so much higher than me, Amala. Higher...than anyone." She recognized his voice. It was a voice burdened with so much pain, but the strength in his tone was undeniable as he attempted to convey his last words to her._

 _"_ _You see? In the end, you're no better than me." laughed another voice weakly._

 _"_ _We'll always be together, won't we?" a young girl's voice, high-pitched and filled with energy. That same voice was layered over by an identical one, but in a far darker setting, "You won't kill me. You can't. We're best friends after all." she said sweetly._

 _"_ _Stay with me, kid! Don't you_ dare _give up! You saved this entire school..."_

 _"_ _...child blessed by the heavens. You will never know a moment's peace..." an aged voice speaking with prophetic certainty._

 _"_ _Don't cry, dearest one. You won't be alone. You'll_ never _be alone. No matter how far I go, I will always...be..."_

 _It was too painful to listen to the rest. Each voice sent a fresh stab of agony through her heart, that she was sure that it was about to break. Amala broke into a run as she fled from the ghosts that haunted this place._

 _She was not nearly as fast as she should have been. Her legs moved at a snail's pace as she was forced to listen to the whispers of more shadows that slipped through the trees._

 _"_ _...promise me you'll save them! Promise..."_

 _"_ _You would throw this world once more into chaos..."_

 _"_ _Kill me. Please...just kill me. I ca-can't take it anymo-"_

 _"_ _'s your fault she died, boy. YOUR fault. What? Not gonna cry? Not gonna get angry?! SAY SOMETHING!" a drunken voice thick with rage howled at a younger Jamie._

 _"_ _She took on a horde of Grade 2 beasts led by a Grade 3 and came out ALIVE. She_ must _be carefully nurtured..."_

 _Some of the shadows just offered screams; an unearthly wail that poured from two hundred and six throats and threatened to drown Amala in their sorrow and rage. Amala did not know how long she had been running already, nor how far she had come. This forest seemed to have no end with the only source of comfort being a strange warmth coming from her left hand._

 _A flash of light caught her attention as well as the sound of laughter. She turned towards the source and saw a group of four off in the distance. As she made her way towards these other figures, the shadows became less and less, which emboldened her to press onwards._

 _She stopped just before she reached the group; baffled at the sight before her. Two children, both young girls of similar ages, were holding wooden swords as they slashed at the air in front of them. The fiery-haired one appeared to be demonstrating various enthusiastic slashes for the black-haired girl who mimicked her actions. The red-haired girl was not familiar, but Amala noticed with a start that the black-haired one was herself._

 _Standing a little bit off to the side from these two girls was a very familiar human boy with coal-black skin. He was tall for his age, but the youthfulness on his face was clear evidence towards his age. He had a faint smile on his face as he watched the two girls with a taller figure; a protective light in his eyes._

 _The tallest figure was also unknown to Amala. He or she, for they were very androgynous looking, placed a hand on the boy's shoulder and said something very quiet that made them both smile. A bright blue butterfly was on this person's shoulder, it's wings fluttering gently._

 _Amala stepped forward and the four people turned towards her with smiles on their faces. They walked towards her, but Amala did not feel threatened; knowing somehow they would not hurt her. Their bodies glowed with a mysterious light as the androgynous figure merged with the boy who turned into a similar light himself._

 _With a mischievous wink, the red-haired girl disappeared into a ball of light that seemed to be covered with various profound and mysterious symbols, before entering the other Amala with the other two lights._

 _She stepped forward again and raised her palm up towards the girl. She wasn't surprised when she felt the cool surface of a mirror. The other Amala had a faint smile on her lips as she spoke:_

 _"_ _Wake up."_


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry for the wait guys! Lots of different reasons, but the main one was procrastination. Well that and I had a lot of issues with the dialogue in this chapter and figuring out where to cut it off. This was my longest chapter to date, too! I was actually gonna make it longer, but I felt like it was good where I left it off.**

 **Looking forward to the next chapter because...well, you'll see ;)**

* * *

 **Chapter 9 - Breakthrough**

"Ohhhh...what..." groaned Amala as she slowly came out of her unconscious state. Every part of her body felt like it was on fire. Except for her legs. Her legs felt like they were set on fire, had glass run through it and then had a bunch of salt and fire-ants poured over the wound.

Her eyes cracked open and she saw that she was in the Med Bay. Hopefully this wouldn't become a recurring thing. Amala gingerly craned her neck as she looked around the Med Bay. Dr. Chakwas was nowhere to be seen and she appeared to be the only patient.

 _What happened...? Where is..._

The door to the Med Bay opened to reveal a blonde woman holding a datapad, her eyes widened when she met Amala's eyes.

"Carol!" exclaimed Amala, jolting up from her position and then doubling over in pain at the sudden movement. "Oww...okay, not a smart move getting up like that..."

There was the sound of running footsteps coming over towards her bed as a gentle hand eased Amala back onto the pillows. Amala looked over Carol and gave her a wide smile, "You're okay."

Tears started to leak out from her eyes.

"Carol?! What's wrong? Are you hurt somewhere-" Amala's startled questions were cut off as she was folded into an extremely gentle hug. No pressure was placed on her body, but she could feel Carol's warmth radiating from her body to Amala's.

Perhaps it was because of how much Carol had hugged Amala during her stay on the _Normandy_ , but the unique scent she carried had already become a very familiar and relaxing one for her. Different from Julia's which radiated both strength and safety, Carol's scent reminded Amala of her mother.

Safety. Comfort. Warmth. Love.

"Silly." sniffed Carol, "I should be asking you that."

She pulled back and smiled, her complexion was blotchy from the tears that continued to stream down her face. "Do you know how much you scared me? I thought I was going to lose you!"

There was so much fear in her voice as she said these words that Amala wondered how Carol had come to care so much for her. She didn't dare to voice this question however, as Amala was afraid that she'd lose this woman's affection if she did.

Amala quivered and looked down, "I'm sorry..." she said quietly, "I-I-There was a guy and he had a gun and I-"

 _\- couldn't lose you._

Carol leaned forward and kissed Amala on the forehead, "It's okay sweetie. As long as you're safe, it's okay."

* * *

With only a slight limp accompanying her step, Amala exited through the glowing doors of the Med Bay and stood triumphantly in the mess with her two hands in a victory pose. "FREEDOM!"

Laughter and sarcastic applause bloomed throughout the ship deck, bringing a faint blush to the still grinning Amala. It was late in the afternoon for the _Normandy_ and there was a sizable amount of crew members in attendance. Julia and Kaidan were particularly prominent, along with Raymond and-

"Heyyy sweetie! I'm _so_ glad you're feeling better!" Amala was lifted up off the ground and spun around a few times in a circle before being tightly embraced by Carol. Amala was once again struck at how calming Carol's scent was for her, almost as if she were back home with her own mother. It was therefore, almost instinctual for her to nuzzle the side of Carol's neck with a contented purr rumbling out of her throat.

Amala blushed hard as soon as she realized what she was doing and pulled back with a bright red face. "Um. That wasn't -"

""AHHH, SO CUTE!"" The women in the mess all squealed at once (even Julia surprisingly) and rushed forward to hug Amala.

"Gah! Wait!" her cries fell on deaf ears as Amala drowned in the girly horde who were alternately planting kisses on her face or stroking her hair or just trying to suffocate her in their bosoms.

After a few minutes of their smothering, Julia clapped her hands and broke up the women with a chuckle, "All right, that's enough ladies." her eyes twinkled mischievously, "At least for now."

Amala was still being held aloft in the air by Carol like an oversized plush doll, so she could only resort to glaring at the sniggering Julia, "Gee. Thanks."

 _Though the hugs were nice_. She thought with a faint blush.

Someone grabbed Amala a meal and they sat down together at a table, while the others left to return to their stations. Amala was surprised to find out that she had been unconscious for two days and that they had long since left Omega. She was glad to know that no one had died, although Rob had already been transferred to an Alliance medical vessel which put her in a sour mood.

Amala dutifully shovelled the military slop down into her gullet, hunger overriding the bland taste that the meal had, as Julia filled her in on everything that had happened.

"Of course. You would not have been in such a state had you listened to my orders and _stayed_ on the ship." said Julia quietly.

The spork holding the last bits of ration froze in mid-air when she heard this. Amala slowly lowered the food back into it's container as she looked at Julia, who had a very stern expression on her face. Sneaking a glance to Carol whose lap she was sitting on and Kaidan who was next to Julia, they both wore similar expressions.

"I _had_ to go. Raymond wanted to stop me, but he knew that I would've come along anyway." said Amala carefully, not wanting to throw anyone under the bus, she wanted to make sure that Julia and everyone else knew that this was _her_ decision.

"I couldn't just stay on the ship wondering if – if someone had died and _knowing_ that I could have done something to save them." Amala clenched her fists and stared hotly at Julia.

"Did you also know that Lantar saw your real form, when we got back to the ship?"

Stunned, Amala opened her mouth to ask before Julia cut her off, "He swore he would keep it a secret, but you have to realize your actions could have cost everyone very dearly."

"Would that cost have been more dear than someone's life?" said Amala quietly.

Julia's face softened, "No. It wouldn't have. But I need you to understand that things could've gone very poorly, even though you were doing things for the right reasons."

Julia's hands slipped over to cover Amala's, "Amala, you are one of the most extraordinary people that I have ever met in my entire life and I'm not referring at all to your looks or your abilities."

Amala was confused by that statement. What else was so good about her? Amala was pretty sure it was only her strength that made her special on Lozen.

Julia and Kaidan laughed at her expression as Carol poked Amala's chest, just over her heart. "She's talking about _this_ right here."

"When we all joined the Alliance, we all swore an oath to defend those who couldn't defend themselves. To protect our people, even at the cost of our own lives. Our entire career as soldiers was built on that foundation; the same going for every crew member on this ship, whether or not they serve on the frontlines." explained Kaidan.

"But that's our job, Amala. We were _trained_ to throw ourselves in the line of fire. To keep going in the face of adversity, even when everything seems to go to hell." said Julia.

Amala wrinkled her nose, "You're selling yourselves short then. I think even without being in the military, you would've done the same things anyway."

Julia's face took on an odd expression, one that seemed to be a mixture of deep sadness or regret and a bitter smile. It was painful to look at and Amala was glad that it only lasted for a brief few moments on the woman's face.

"You weren't in the military though, were you Amala?" asked Kaidan.

Amala rolled her eyes, "Even on Lozen, they didn't let kids join the military."

 _Though that's probably because most kids hadn't even stepped into the realm of cultivation yet._

Carol squeezed Amala's hand, "That's our point though. You never thought about the consequences of your actions, even if it meant risking your life, if it was to save someone. You weren't trained to do something like that. It was _instinct_ ; solid proof of the strength of your heart."

Julia leaned in forward, locking Amala's emerald gaze with her own pools of shimmering green. "It's also your greatest weakness." Julia smiled ruefully, "Cliche, I know. But it doesn't make it any less true."

Amala frowned, "I'm a lot stronger than most people, so I won't be in much danger."

"Who's the one who nearly died in front of me?" asked Carol with a slight tremble in her voice.

Amala hesitated, "Things would have been a lot different if I was there from the start." she looked at Julia who understood the hidden question.

"Amala..." she began.

"It's not like I haven't had my carefree life as a kid, you know?" said Amala quietly, "But if I'm ever going to have a chance to get back home-" Carol tightened her embrace at these words. "I have to take some risks. Saren took Regis. Finding Saren means finding a way home. I'm about to make a breakthrough to the next Rebirth stage, so I'll be even safer than I ever was before!"

For a long minute, Julia just stared at her and Amala did her best to match the intensity in the older woman's eyes. Finally, she opened her mouth: "How much safer?"

"Commander!" cried out an aghast Carol.

"Shepard, you can't really be thinking-"

Julia held out her hand for their silence, of which they quickly complied with. Though Carol was now keeping a death grip on one of Amala's hands.

"The 5th Rebirth Stage is the final step, just before one reaches the Element Stage. The body becomes even stronger than it was before and my top speed even without using Ki can go up to Mach 3."

"Combined with the shielding technology and my own techniques, not including the new one that I had stumbled upon back on Omega-" Carol flinched at the mention of the space station and Amala looked apologetically at her, before continuing. "and the fact that I won't be on the front-lines, I'll be safer than any other member on your squad."

"If I'm on the _space_ ship," continued Amala, making sure to emphasize the 'space' part, "And it gets attacked and goes down, I have no chance of surviving. At least on the ground, I stand a far better chance of living."

She stared deeply into all of their eyes before driving home her final point. "Also...who's to say that Regis isn't working with Saren? Can you honestly tell me that you would be able to stop him? Especially if they're working together? Because I will say this: For all his faults, Regis is incredibly powerful for his age, with a cultivation level at the 3rd Rebirth Stage."

There was an uncomfortable silence before Kaidan gave his own input, "That situation may not be so helpless. We've been working on a new set of shields."

"Which will hold out against a few physical attacks before shattering. In addition, what happens when he tries to use Ki-based techniques?" pointed out Amala.

Kaidan blanched, as did Julia's, who evidently did not consider this aspect either. "See? This is why I _should_ go with you. I can help guard against the things you can't predict or aren't able to deal with. Plus, I-"

"Alright." stated Julia calmly.

"I...what?"

"Alright. You've made your point. And I agree. You _would_ be a large help. But this isn't something obligatory."

"I know. But I _want_ to do this." Amala clenched her fist tightly.

"We would need to set a LOT of ground-rules first that you would need to follow to the letter."

"No problem." assured Amala.

"Yes, there is most CERTAINLY a PROBLEM!" shouted Carol, causing both Amala and Kaidan to flinch. Julia simply regarded the woman with a cool appraisal.

"The one mission I did go down with the rest of the crew, went fine!" Amala saw that the woman was about lapse into her usual argument before she cut her off, "Not every mission will be like the one on Omega, Carol. I'll be _fine_."

"Amala...I don't want to see you get hurt again. Despite your concerns, it's still a lot safer on the ship than it is on the ground." she whispered. Pleading with her. Begging her.

Amala saw the concern in Carol's eyes and was touched that the woman cared so much about her. Even so...

"You're right, Carol. I might get seriously hurt, down there." _Perhaps I might even die._ "But honestly? I've faced much worse odds before and I've come out on top, every single time."

Carol pursed her lips and ran her hand gently down Amala's hair, "Can you promise me one thing, at least?" She cupped one of her cheeks, so that Amala would meet her steady gaze. "Promise me that you will look out for your _own_ safety down there. You will make your health a _priority_."

Amala's eyes widened and she was about to protest when Julia cut in, "That will be Ground Rule Number One, by the way."

"But I-"

"""No, buts.""" chorused all three adults.

"...fine." she said in a small voice.

"Let me hear you say it." said Carol sternly.

"I...promise to make my health and safety-"

"Your number one concern." chimed in Kaidan 'helpfully'.

Amala bit her lip, "...my number one concern."

They all smiled and Carol even leaned in to kiss Amala's forehead, which had her blushing a bit. Julia clapped her hands, "Well then, if you're going to come down with us to Feros. We only have about a day to go over the ground rules, before we dock."

 _After all of_ that _, this next part is going to be super embarrassing..._

"Oh...I...won't be able to go with you to Feros." said Amala.

* * *

Garrus was feeling quite hungry after a long day of Shepard-Class maintenance on the MAKO, and he was reasonably sure that the poor old tank would be able to survive the next mission without exploding. They would be landing on Feros, some time before noon and Shepard had everyone doing last minute checks and weapon maintenance.

Garrus was surprised when Kaidan handed him a new set of shield emitters as well as the reasons behind them. After seeing the kind of carnage that Amala could bring, Garrus was in no hurry to face off against someone who was nearly as powerful.

 _Speaking of the Tiny Terror..._

He was treated to the rather amusing sight of Amala carrying a mop, bucket and several towels over to Shepard's quarters. "What's with all the cleaning supplies, little girl? You wet the bed?"

Amala shot him a nasty look and then pouted, "No! I need all of this for my breakthrough!"

"Uh? What?"

"Yeah, that was pretty much the same reaction I had too, Garrus." the sweet voice of his Commander came from behind him. Julia gave a wan smile as they watched Amala haul in various items to her quarters. "All she said was that with every stage of her cultivation, things could get a little messy."

"Messy?"

Julia shrugged, "She was a little vague on that subject and it didn't look like she wanted to talk about it very much."

 _Odd. But then again, she's a very odd child._

Amala came running out of the room with a strange green block in her hand as she went over to the fridge, paused, and then walked over to Julia with a sheepish expression. "Is it okay if I use some of the juice bottles?"

Julia smiled indulgently at Amala (which sent a weird thrill through Garrus for some reason) as she gently petted her head. "Of course you can. Can I ask why?"

Amala's eyes became shifty and she indicated the green block in her hand. On closer inspection, Garrus realized that there were several indentations on the top and bottom of the item. "What's that?" asked Garrus.

Not meeting either of their eyes, Amala muttered, "...Bite-block."

"Bite-block?" repeated Garrus in confusion. Based on the name he assumed those indentations were for her teeth, but he didn't understand why she had it. Or how it related to juice for that matter.

"It's something used for Rebirth breakthroughs. It stores lots of liquids and releases it slowly so I don't get dehydrated." Garrus didn't know how these breakthroughs worked and while Amala seemed to give a perfectly valid explanation, he sensed that there was something she didn't want either of them to find out.

"You said that this breakthrough would keep you from Feros-" she cut off Garrus' interjection with a silent warning. Garrus knew that meant she would talk about it with him later. "But how long does this last for?"

Amala looked in her eyes at that, so Garrus knew that this was most likely going to be a truthful statement. "I don't know. The longest I've ever been inside was a little over a day."

"A day?!" exclaimed Julia.

"Inside?" asked a much more subdued Garrus.

Amala turned to Garrus with a slight frown on her face. "When I move to the next level...I get wrapped up in this...cocoon-like thing. Kinda like when I transform into my adult appearance. While I'm inside, nothing can get in or out, so I'm stuck in it as my...cultivation improves."

Now it was Garrus' turn to frown, "I thought it was your body that improved?"

Amala flinched and slightly stuttered, "R-Right. It does."

He shared a look with Julia: _'Press the attack?'_

She nodded: _'Charge.'_

"How...exactly does your body improve during this process?" asked Julia suspiciously.

"Er...a...soft...light...uses...magic? Magic! That's right. There's this weird light that magically makes my body tougher. It's actually pretty boring."

Garrus looked at the girl pointedly, who started to fidget uncomfortably under his silent 'C-Sec' gaze. "Is this breakthrough something dangerous?"

"...No..." she replied in a very small voice.

 _Spirits, what has she gotten herself into now?_

Julia knelt, so that she was eye-level with Amala, "Amala...remember what you _promised_ to me, Kaidan and Carol? Ground Rule Number One?"

Garrus was surprised when Amala's eyes became angry, "I didn't forget!" she snapped back, "This isn't something I can control! I absorb Universal Energy whether I want to or not. The difference is that this way I can control _when_ my breakthrough happens!"

Amala's face became hurtful, "I don't break promises, Julia." She jerked her head so that she wasn't looking at her, "...No matter how much I hate them." she added softly.

Julia looked pained at the hurt and slightly betrayed expression on Amala's face. Garrus put his hand on Julia's shoulder comfortingly and knelt down beside her. "She's just worried about you, Amala. I am too. Can't you talk to us?" said Garrus gently.

Amala bit her lower lip, "If I tell you, you'll be worried. If you're worried, you'll be distracted." She looked at both of them with slightly moist eyes, "And if you're distracted on a mission, you could..."

Garrus wanted to growl in frustration, but he knew he couldn't without sending the wrong message to this obstinate girl. _You shouldn't be the one protecting us!_

He had a small pang of sympathy for his parents when they raised him and his sister. Spirits know that he himself was a handful. Garrus then felt guilty in that he realized he hadn't contacted his family in quite some time, ever since he went on this manhunt for Saren.

Julia gave a low chuckle as she gently stroked Amala's back, "Hey now. Garrus and I are both tough military vets. _You_ don't have to worry about us, okay?"

Amala nodded, lips trembling, but not saying anything.

"Do you need anything else?" asked Garrus kindly.

She shook her head, still not saying anything and staring at the floor. Julia gave a helpless look towards Garrus, who gave a slight shrug towards her in response. She gave a small sigh, before directing a warm smile towards Amala, "Okay, sweetie. Just know that you can talk to me or Garrus, whenever you want about anything, okay?"

"...okay..." Julia tentatively opened her arms for a hug and – after a brief moment of hesitation – Amala stepped forward into the embrace and hugged the red-haired Commander tightly. They stood there for a good minute, before the pair let go of each other (Garrus noted that Amala had a slight reluctance to do so, before she seemingly made up her mind about something) and Amala darted off towards the fridge.

They quietly watched the girl carefully tip the contents of one bottle onto the bite-block over the sink, with some interest as the instrument absorbed the liquid like a sponge without increasing in size. Julia motioned for Garrus to sit at the table situated as far away as possible from Amala and activated her omni-tool.

Garrus' own omni-tool pinged with a message from Julia: _"Best way to talk without being overheard by Amala. Her hearing is as good as yours, after all."_

He gave a slight grin towards Julia and replied, _"I think you mean 'nearly' as good as mine."_

Julia read his reply and rolled her eyes, _"I mean what I say, Vakarian."_

Garrus chuckled slightly; the both of them kept one eye on Amala who was talking to Liara now and asking what she was doing. _"What was all that about Feros and ground rules?"_

Julia sighed and typed back, _"After a great deal of thought and rather annoyingly convincing points made by Amala, I've decided to let her come on missions that have a chance of leading her back home."_

Garrus looked at the little girl who was currently smiling at something Liara said and the two burst into giggles. _That's how she should look like normally._

 _"_ _I see. And these ground rules?"_

Julia froze when she read the reply and looked confused when she typed in her response. _"You're...taking this a lot better than I thought you would..."_

Garrus rolled his eyes, _"I trust you, Shepard. You know what you're doing. Whatever you decide, I'll follow you with no objections."_

Julia slightly blushed and said to Garrus quietly, "Thank you, Garrus. That means a lot to me."

Garrus felt himself being uncharacteristically flustered at the smile on Julia's face, so much so, that he was very glad he only had to say two words. "You're welcome..."

Julia slightly smirked at him and he groaned inwardly, thinking that she probably knew his current mental state. _"Smooth, Vakarian."_

 _"_ _You know me."_

 _"_ _Yeah. I'm glad I do."_ Garrus was incredibly thankful that turians did not blush, because the warm smile that was being directed towards him would've painted his face blue. Though, Julia's next words were the equivalent of a bucket of cold water being splashed on him.

 _"_ _What do you think she's hiding from us?"_

No need to ask who 'she' was.

 _"_ _I don't know. But it's probably something quite serious."_

 _"_ _I'm worried, Garrus. I know what I said, but I'm still worried about what exactly she's getting herself into. And it pisses me off that there's nothing I can do to help."_

Garrus didn't both to marvel over the slight revelation that Julia would confide in him and simply typed out his thoughts. _"I think...being there for her will be enough. Let me ask you something: What was the main reason that you agreed to let Amala come with us groundside?"_

 _"_ _Because...I trust her. She's a smart kid. She knows how to protect herself and she can keep a cool head in dangerous situations."_ A faint smile grew on Julia's face as she looked over at Amala.

 _"_ _So trust her. Trust that she knows what she's doing and everything will be okay."_

 _"_ _How can you be so sure?"_

 _"_ _Because in a lot of ways she reminds me of yourself."_

* * *

Amala watched curiously as Julia operated her omni-tool as she set up a recording. A holographic drone was emitted from the device and floated behind the two girls. A white light shot out from the centre and made Amala squint a bit at the intensity as a small red light appeared on the side of the drone.

"Okay." said Julia with a smile, "Let's get this out of the way first, so we don't have to gather everyone else up."

Amala nodded, "What would you like to know?"

"Let's start with the basics. Seeing as we already know about his appearance, what can you tell us about his combat capabilities?"

"Well...the last time I fought him, he was still in the late 3rd Rebirth Stage. In terms of speed, Regis could go around five hundred metres per second without ki. Using as much ki as possible, he could achieve something a little under nine hundred metres per second."

"Strength is a little bit hard to judge, but the typical rule of thumb is that between every Rebirth stage, you're about one point five times stronger than the guy below you."

"When you were on Omega, was it very difficult to throw around those skycars?"

Amala shook her head, "No, it was pretty simple. They weren't too heavy-" Julia's eye twitched at this, but said nothing, "If I were to maybe stack around fifteen of them on one arm, then it'd be pretty heavy..." she trailed off seeing Julia's wide eyes.

"Sorry..." mumbled Amala.

Julia shook her head, "No, no, I'm just a little...amazed that you can pass something like that off so easily."

Amala grinned, "You should see my dad! He's _super_ strong!"

Julia smiled back, "I bet. Do you mind showing me those memories you promised to the rest of the crew of him?"

"Sure!" Amala always loved being able to show off her dad.

Julia winked at her, before getting back on track. "Does your strength increase when you're using ki?"

"Not in the way you would think. I wouldn't be able to lift much more, but my destructive capabilities would go through the roof."

"How does ki affect your speed?"

"Hmm...the best way I could describe it, is like when I use my ki to get around, it's like I'm putting on a...rocket with really fine-control, so that I can make tight turns."

"How about endurance? Does your ki act like our shields do?"

"Kind of. Although what it can block is way more broad. It's not limited by size or speed, it'll just block everything that could harm me. It can be made to be more specialized like shields though if we use techniques." Amala generated her _Safe Space_ technique to demonstrate, "Using ki this way, tires you out way faster though."

"Although in terms of endurance, there's something you should know about Regis. He was known in school by a certain epithet: Regis the Undying."

Julia grimaced, "Is that as bad as it sounds?"

Amala sighed. "When he was still my friend, it was something that I loved."

 _'A battlefield strewn with the corpses of students from the Hidden Dragon Sect; rent limb by limb by vicious beasts that seek only their destruction. A Great Maw approaches her, feelers sliding across the ground as it hungrily laps up the blood from her fellow students. She has been fighting for what seems like hours on end, and her strength is greatly flagging.'_

 _'A golden-haired young man is putting up a valiant struggle of his own as he contends with the weaker foes. They are the last that have yet to fall, and still the horde of monsters approaches them._

 _'She survives because of her immense strength.'_

 _'He survives for his sheer durability. With every gash that appears on his body, it is healed a second later. Wounds that would prove to be fatal to many others, he is able to shrug off with ease.'_

 _"_ _Just hold on!" she yells. "We'll make it through this. The both of us! Count on it!"_

"Amala?"

"Um...sorry, what did you say?" Amala shakes herself out of her memories. She notices the light on the drone has been turned off and Julia is looking at her with a sympathetic expression.

"You know, if you aren't comfortable with this, we don't have to continue."

"...it's just...hard, talking about all of this. It shouldn't be though. Not after what he did to me." Amala paused, "So...then, why...am I still hesitating?"

"Because he was your friend." said Julia simply.

It was simple too. Amala was hesitating because she was stuck with the old version of Regis in her head. The quiet guy with the shy smile who had the surprising heart of a prankster.

Not the man who drugged her. Not the one who tore off her clothing with a horrifyingly hungry expression. Not the person who put his hand over her mouth so she couldn't scream.

That person wasn't her friend.

Amala barely noticed that Julia was in front of her, a crooked finger gently brushing away the tears that fell down her face. She remained motionless, even when Julia was hugging her, Amala kept staring at the wall, softly murmuring:

"I...thought...he was my friend?" she sniffled slightly, her nose becoming stuffy all of a sudden. "He was supposed to be my...best friend- _hic_."

Before she even knew it, or had a chance to control herself, Amala was clutching Julia. Desperate to hold onto someone that seemed to truly care about her as she broke down completely in tears. A pain greater than any she would have experienced during a breakthrough, spread out in great waves from her heart and threatened to drown Amala in sorrow and rage.

What had gone wrong?

Why did Regis hurt her like that?

She was ashamed that she was sobbing like a child, but inwardly glad that Julia continued to hold her. The woman holding her was warm and bright and she didn't recoil even when Amala continued to stain her uniform with tears and mucus.

Amala didn't know how long Julia continued to hold her like that in her arms, but she never stopped stroking her hair or ceased her soft soothing reassurances. Despite feeling as if the pain would never stop, her sobs grew quieter and devolved into sniffles.

She still hurt, but her chest felt a lot lighter.

* * *

Julia gave a doubtful look at the puffy-eyed girl sitting cross-legged on the floor of her quarters. After crying her heart out, Amala valiantly persisted in telling Julia the rest of Regis' abilities. While the thought of facing someone like Regis scared her, the thought of Amala in such a heartbroken state _terrified_ Julia and she loathed the fact that she couldn't do more for the girl.

 _Apart from gutting the son of a bitch who did this to her._

"So what happens now?" asked Julia, sitting on her bed with one leg crossed over the other. The corner of Julia's quarters seemed to have turned into a janitor's closet, with numerous cleaning supplies and rags stacked in neat piles next to Amala. A fresh set of clothes (a small shirt and black pants; the only thing the girl seemed to wear and prefer) lay in her cot.

Amala shrugged as she sat down into a meditative pose, "I focus on drawing in as much Universal Energy as I can."

"Don't you have to exercise before doing that?" Normally whenever Amala did her energy absorption thing, she would engage in a series of high-intensity set of exercises that would have most marines screaming. It boggled Julia's mind that a child would be able to persist in doing such things, but it also impressed the hell out of her and the rest of the crew.

Amala nodded, "By exhausting all of my Ki and getting into a physically worn out state, the amount of energy I can absorb is boosted. However, for breakthroughs, one should be in a well-rested condition."

"Is there...something else you want to tell me?" Julia noticed that Amala was hesitating and seemed like she wanted to say something else.

"Just...if you hear anything, just ignore it. Or, or better yet, maybe just wear earplugs when you go to sleep." she said quickly.

Julia's heart pounded as she considered Amala's personality and all of the implications of what that possibly meant. She almost didn't want to ask her anything else, but Julia _had_ to know.

"Is this process...painful?"

Amala flinched and Julia felt like her heart stopped.

"It isn't." denied Amala, staring very hard at the wall.

"What else is that bite-block for?" pressed Julia.

"You don't need to know." rejected Amala.

"I _want_ to know, Amala. Please...just talk to me." begged Julia. _God, is it really so terrible?_

"... _You who would defy the heavens and seek to place themselves amongst the Divines, know that the road you embark upon is one fraught with peril. Only those with a clear heart and an unyielding will, have the chance to escape the shackles that bind them to their mortal coil._ "

Of all the things she could have said, _this_ was certainly not something she expected. It was an eerie chant that seemed to pierce Julia's very soul and it left a strange echo in the room that distorted and amplified Amala's voice. When the last echo of the chant faded away, Amala whispered:

"You can't help me, Julia. No one can." It was one of the most chilling looks she had ever seen on a person's face and one that she had seen many times before during her time with the Alliance. That was the face of someone who was resigned to their fate, but carried with them an unbreakable determination to see their journey to the end.

 _Yeah? Well, FUCK that._

"You're wrong." said Julia with conviction, "You are _so wrong_. I may have no idea how your powers work and I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole cultivation thing. Even if you told me exactly what was going to happen, you know as well as I do that there's not a thing that I can do about it." Julia fixed a steely glare onto the incredulous Amala, "However-"

"That does NOT mean that I won't _try_ to help you in whatever way I can. And I'm _never_ going to stop trying to help you, no matter how much you try and push me away."

"But-"

"And do you know WHY?" Julia raised her voice over Amala's. "It's the same reason why I would go to any lengths to help every last single person on this ship. _My_ ship. The people onboard, no matter who they are or what they do, are _my_ crew; they are _my family_!"

"I'm fine! Stop worrying about me!"

"Damn it, Amala! Stop building these walls around yourself! You have people on this ship who _care_ about you! I _care_ about you!" Amala's eyes became watery and Julia lowered her voice so that it was barely louder than a whisper, "Let someone else protect you for a change, Amala. That's how a family works."

Her lips trembled. "You can't protect me from this."

Julia placed her hands on Amala's shoulders, "I can at least comfort you." Amala slightly resisted at first, but then allowed herself to be drawn into Julia's arms.

"Thank you." she whispered.

 _Don't thank me. What have I done for you?_

There were exactly two times in her life that Julia felt completely powerless.

The first was when slavers had come to Mindoir, slaughtering her family and almost succeeding in forcing her and her brother into a life of slavery.

The second time was when Alex had come back from Akuze, broken in so many different ways that even his big sister couldn't draw him out his despair.

Now it was becoming painfully clear that she was in the midst of her third time with Amala. She could give as many fancy speeches as she wanted, hug the girl for all she was worth and give her a shoulder to cry on and it still wouldn't be good enough.

As if to prove her point, Amala broke the hug and while she did admittedly look a little better, there was still some tension in her face; an unseen burden that she flat out refused to share. She gave Julia a weak smile that overlapped with Alex' face in Julia's mind and only served to increase the feeling of her own uselessness.

Amala took a deep breath and settled back into a meditative pose, "Okay. Let's do this." She cracked an eye open and said, "I'm okay now-"

 _No you're not._

"And this will probably take a while anyway." she finished.

"Okay." said Julia with a small smile, "We'll talk more after you're done with all of this...okay, superchild?"

Amala hesitated for a brief second, before returning the smile. "Of course."

She shut her eyes and presumably started to draw in on this so-called Universal Energy of hers. Julia absently glanced at her omni-tool, checking for any energy readings that would indicate such a process, as she got up and sat at her desk. Nothing popped up, as usual and she sighed and pulled up a report from one of the crew members while keeping an eye on Amala in the corner.

An hour and half or so passed while Julia went through her usual motions without getting any real work done when her omni-tool gave off a sharp _ping!_ Sound. Her eyes widened when she realized it was measuring an unknown form of energy of whose source was immediately identified when Amala's body lit up like a lightbulb.

 _ **Shoom! Shoom! Shoom!**_

A low sound that gave off a faint hum and vibrated through Julia's body appeared within the room, and was increasing in frequency as a violet light matching that of Amala's ki swirled around her. At this point, Amala picked up the bite-block that was on her lap and swiftly placed in her mouth as the violet light oozed around her and started to encase her, while becoming more and more opaque.

True to her words, Amala was certainly becoming encased in what seemed to be a cocoon of light, although Julia could also see that were was... _something_ else that seemed to crawl along the sides of the cocoon. They were fragments of odd symbols and figures that had Julia's head pounding fiercely when she tried to concentrate on them, before quickly vanishing from sight as if they were never there.

The sound soon faded as whatever was occurring seemed to have finished and a large purple ball appeared in Julia's room, whose surface was both completely opaque and had faint tendrils of purple-coloured _mist_ crawling across it. Though there were none of the strange symbols that she had seen before, it seemed as if the cocoon would not be changing any further.

Julia hesitated and slowly got up, making her way towards the cocoon and strained her ears for any odd sort of sound. She turned up her audio implants and was barely able to make out some sort of cracking noise along with a muffled voice that sounded...pained.

Swallowing hard, Julia turned around and very deliberately lowered her audio implants so it was no longer catching those small sounds and sat down on her bed. She gripped the sheets tightly and watched the sphere with sorrowful and slightly horrified eyes.

She licked her lips, her mouth feeling quite dry all of a sudden and whispered. "Please be okay..."

* * *

"Commander? I'm reading a lot of geth forces already on ground-er-sky." reported Joker.

"Just geth?" asked Julia.

"No sign of Saren's ship, but it's possible he could be docked in another tower." shrugged Joker.

"Hm. Docking bay for Zhu's Hope clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Take us in quietly then and try to set up a hail towards the colony."

"Aye aye."

Julia turned towards her assembled ground crew, who like she was, were already decked out in full combat gear. "Okay people, no idea of what to expect on the ground apart from a large contingent of geth. That means disruptor rounds for everyone and techs at the back with overloads at the ready."

They all nodded seriously, as they filed up next to the airlock while Joker brought them in. While the others were slightly tense, Julia had full confidence in her pilot's skills to bring them in undetected and simply waited at the front of her merry little band with a stoic face. Garrus sent her a worried look, but otherwise didn't comment.

She gave a slight internal groan at his mollycoddling which she felt was a little bit over the top considering that she had only mentioned that she didn't get a good night's rest. Julia had woken up twice in the night when she was sure she had heard what sounded like to be a pained scream coming from Amala, though when she focused on the sound she wasn't able to hear anything else.

Eventually, judging that she would have to be fit for the mission, she had taken Amala's advice and blocked off the sounds coming from the cocoon in order to get some semblance of sleep. Julia stifled a yawn and remarking sarcastically to herself at how well _that_ had worked.

The _Normandy_ pulled in smoothly to the docking bay without the slightest bit of extra jostle and the doors to the airlock slid open with a _hiss_.

"Got a return hail from the colony, Commander. They're sending someone to meet up with us."

"Got it, thanks Joker."

The door to the ship opened and Julia was treated to her first view of Feros: An ancient prothean outpost that was built in the clouds in the form of large towers connected to each other by skyways. As her foot dropped down onto the ancient metal, Julia noticed the presence of a dark-skinned human at the end of the ramp.

"Hello?" said the man as they approached cautiously, "We got your communication. Fai Dan wants to speak with you immediately."

Frowning slightly at the odd stunted speech the man was talking in, Julia asked: "Who's Fai Dan?"

"He's our leader. He needs your help to prepare for the geth. They're making another push." He pointed back towards the walkway which went deeper into the tower, "Please. Up the stairs, past the freighter."

Julia was about to get some more info out of the guy when the party's omni-tools lit up all at once with multiple enemy targets. The electronic warbling was the next thing to be heard as geth came marching out of the tower; one larger one in particular was already aiming a rocket.

"Geth!" shouted Tali.

"Get down!" barked Ashley.

Julia and Liara threw up barriers as Ashley tackled the civilian to the ground and the geth fired his ordinance.

 ** _BOOM!_**

Julia staggered under the impact as she took cover behind some crates, with her team following suit. A tense firefight was soon quickly engaged as Julia and Kaidan popped out of cover to pepper the geth during a lull in the fire. The dull boom of Garrus' sniper rifle rang out periodically and was followed by the strangled death cry of a geth soon after.

"One's charging!" shouted Kaidan, hitting a larger black geth with an overload.

"Got it!" said Liara, throwing a singularity once the thing's shields were dropped. It floated briefly in mid-air before being blasted out of existence by Wrex, who promptly charged forward; his body being covered by a super-charged shield.

"I AM KROGAN!" Geth that were hidden behind cover were startled out of cover and knocked to the ground as Wrex bashed the side of his shotgun at them, before finishing them off.

"Ash, stay behind and protect the civvie! Rest of you, move up!" barked Julia. Working as a smooth unit, the squishier members of their crew hung back while Garrus, Kaidan and Julia took point, firing indiscriminately to keep the geth in cover behind their portable shields.

The few remaining geth were quickly dispatched of, with Tali claiming the last one as her hacked geth exploded, taking out the one it had been firing upon with it. The HUD cleared up, showing there were no more remaining targets, but Julia was old-fashioned and preferred to rely on more concrete senses. They remained in cover for a bit, until Julia gave the all clear when she didn't hear anything else.

"Form up." said Julia. Ashley regrouped with them, bringing along the colonist. "You okay?" asked Julia kindly.

"Y-yes. Thank you for that. I would have been a goner otherwise." stammered the man.

"You're safe now, we'll take you back to the colony." Julia and Wrex took the lead; everyone still had their weapons drawn on Julia's orders, in case they were hit by another attack. While she kept her eyes peeled open for any hints of trouble, Julia had a small smile on her face, hearing Liara gush about how well the architecture was preserved.

"Tone down the enthusiasm there, Liara." said Ashley with some amusement, "You can geek out later when we're not surrounded by geth."

"O-oh, I'm sorry. It's just that this is my first time on Feros and the stories that I have heard really do not do it justice." replied Liara shyly.

Their HUDs suddenly lit up with a jamming signal and the team was instantly put on alert as they entered a stairwell. The croaking cry was a dead giveaway to what lay beyond as the geth came into view, Tali named it: "Stalker!"

Overloads, biotics and bullets hit the lone geth unit full on; quickly devastating it before it could make use of it's superior agility. The creature fell from the walls and landed onto the floor with a meaty _thump_ , before sliding down the steps to come to a rest at their feet.

"Is that it?" asked Wrex with some disappointment. Their HUDs were clear and there didn't appear to be any more geth incoming.

"Don't worry Wrex, I'm sure we'll find more things for you to shoot." said Julia sweetly.

"Don't patronize me, Shepard." grumbled Wrex, although he did look cheered at the thought; prompting a few snickers amongst the crew. From there it was a relatively quiet walk towards the colony, whereupon they were met with three guns pointed threateningly towards the tunnels.

"Halt! Who goes there?!" shouted one of the guards as they came into view.

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance Military and part of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance unit of the Citadel!" declared Julia, announcing herself with her weapon holstered.

Relief spread across the faces of the guards, "Good to see more soldiers. God knows we could use it. Fai Dan will want to speak with you."

Nodding, Julia beckoned for the rest of her crew to follow, dropping the colonist they had escorted off with one of the other colonists. Walking through Zhu's Hope, Julia frowned as she saw that the place was in quite dire straits. Ramshackle buildings with scorch marks and bullets along with several injured or sick colonists lying on cheap-looking tarps on the ground.

It was clear that the colonists were making due of what they could as she saw several workers frantically moving a large crate off to the side in the distance and a few others were hard at work repairing the damaged pipes that ran through the area. Finally, after making their way through the entire compound, Julia and company came across a man of Asian descent with tightly cropped hair and dark-skinned woman short black hair.

"Fai Dan?" asked Julia.

"Yeah?" The man turned around and his eyes widened, "Ah, Commander. I'm surprised at how fast you managed to get here in the time our communications were cut."

"I was actually already on my way here, I've been looking for-" Julia paused as her HUD lit up with targets.

"Geth!" shouted the woman, getting into a defensive position. True to her words, geth units came marching out of the open door of another tower and started to lay down portable shields.

"Protect the heart of the colony!" rallied Fai Dan with a roar. A cry that was soon taken up by the rest of the colonists. An odd cry, but one that was certainly effective.

While the colonists were certainly no hardened veterans, they kept the pressure off of Julia and the rest and allowed them to quickly dispatch of the robotic menace with relative ease. Julia herself remained untouched and the worst anyone got hit was the woman next to Fai Dan receiving a slight grazing wound on the shoulder.

Fai Dan sighed and gave an appreciative smile to Julia, "Thanks Commander. The geth haven't been here for very long, but you can see they're already becoming more than we can handle."

"Happy to help. I'm just glad the colony is safe."

"For now." interjected the dark-skinned woman worriedly.

"Well, the geth may not have been the reason I came here, but they will certainly be one of the other problems I intend to fix." promised Julia.

"Ah, yes, you mentioned you were already setting a course for Feros?" prodded Fai Dan.

"I'm tracking a dangerous criminal by the name of Saren Arterius, a turian and a former Spectre to boot. He should have arrived on Feros sometime in the past week aboard an old frigate by the name of ' _Warlord's Wrath_ '." Julia carefully observed their expressions and was gratified to see some slight recognition.

"Well, the only ship that arrived in the past week docked straight at ExoGeni. Their main HQ is located in the opposite tower across the skyway. Don't know if they left though already." recalled Fai Dan.

"Can you tell me how to get there?" asked Julia.

"Wait! What about the geth? They're still in the tower and they could kill us all after you leave!" interrupted the woman.

 _True enough. But if Saren manages to get away, how many more people might get hurt?_

Fucking hell she hated decisions like these. Luckily for her though, Julia had a pretty solid crew behind her.

"If I may, Commander." said Kaidan, "Half of us can stay here and help defend the colony, while you and the rest go after Saren."

Julia smiled, "I'm counting on you LT."

Kaidan gave her a sharp salute, "Yes, ma'am!"

"Ash, Liara. You're with Kaidan. Stick together and keep safe." It was an uneven distribution, but Julia needed the extra manpower as their group would be making the push through hostile ground. Wrex for obvious reasons. Garrus could be counted on to watch her six and Tali because she was their resident expert in geth. Chances were good that ExoGeni would show the highest amount of robot presence and Julia knew Tali would be a great help there.

"We won't let you down, ma'am." assured Ashley.

"We'll be right here, waiting for you Shepard." said Liara with a small smile.

Turning to Fai Dan with a question in her raised brows, he said: "Go up the stairs and take your first right. You'll see an elevator that will take you straight up to the top to the garage where there should be a few vehicles for you to make the journey across."

"Thanks Fai Dan. You'll have your colony back to normal soon enough."

"Thank you, Commander." said Fai Dan sincerely.

Julia turned to her crew with a single command: "Move out."

* * *

 _Twenty-three hours, forty-seven minutes and sixteen seconds so far...!_

"Mmmmhhhhh!" Tears poured down Amala's face as she screamed into the bite-block which doubled as a gag.

 _ **Crack!**_

Her femur shattered for what felt like the tenth time and she screamed anew, desperately clinging onto consciousness as her body became reforged. A cool trickle of liquid from the bite-block slipped down her raw throat in between screams and soothed her somewhat.

The first and second stages focused on reforging the skin; making it far tougher than any organic tissue had any right to be. Amala had figured that the pain she experienced in that stage was akin to being flayed alive.

 _ **Snick...Snick...**_

 _Twenty-three hours, forty-eight minutes flat! STOP! STOP! STOP!_

Tendons snapped from the sheer strain they were being put under and Amala felt her body enlarge grotesquely as her muscles alternately hypertrophied and atrophied in rapid succession; blood pooling out from numerous orifices, only to be regenerated a few seconds later from new bone marrow.

The third rebirth stage dealt with strengthening the muscles to a crazy degree. Everything was improved upon a little in the first two stages, but each had their own focus. This is when one's strength, speed and endurance made an exponential leap. That stage wasn't so much painful as it was incredibly nauseating.

"Blegh!" The bite-block was a treasure of it's own and allowed for fluids to exit out of it as Amala threw up the contents of her stomach; bile and blood created a foul-smelling and disgusting mess on the floor.

 _It hurts! It hurts! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! Twenty-three hours, forty-eight minutes and forty-four seconds!_

The fourth stage dealt with the bones. Every bone, including the cranial ones, were broken to pieces and made to be thicker and stronger than they were before; without drastically increasing the mass or size of Amala by some impossible means. Of course while the mind-numbing pain that accompanied that stage seemed the worst by far, Amala knew there was a reason that everyone on Lozen feared the fifth stage.

Fifth Rebirth stage: Viscera remodelling.

A piercing, stabbing pain that quickly became compressing in nature emanated from her chest, radiating down her arm and becoming slightly numb. Every single organ in Amala's body was being broken down to their core components and becoming stronger; better than they ever were before. On top of all of that, the key components of the past four stages returned with a vengeance as her body went through it's most drastic change yet.

Through it all, Amala had to remain conscious, otherwise she would die.

 _Would death really be so bad...no! TWENTY-THREE HOURS!_

A deep pain within her kidney area sprang to life coupled with a profound sense of nausea as she threw up again. This time, chunks of her stomach could be seen littering the ground.

 _FORTY-NINE MINUTES!_

Counting the time in her head allowed her to keep herself from going insane.

 _ELEVEN SECONDS!_

As bad as the pain was. As much as it terrified her of going through another second of the awful experience. Amala wanted with all of her heart to return back to that warm place that she had found. She sobbed into the bite-block, her tears becoming thick as it mixed with blood that started to pour from her eyes. The organs of the head were the last to be dealt with and Amala was slightly cheered at the prospect of her ordeal finally coming to an end.

One way or another.

* * *

 ***Looks at the reader innocently* What? You thought this was going to be an easy level-up? Pfft. Trust me, the note I would've left it off would have been a much bigger cliffhanger. Whatever you think you know about Feros, throw that shit out the window. I'm going off script next chapter and things are about get much worse for the crew.**

 **Will I pull a Virmire on Feros?**

 **Eh...probably not.**

 **Maybe.**

 **:D**


End file.
